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Robu’s reign and multiculturalism
Before turning to Dominic Fritz, it is definitely worth mentioning Mayor Nicolae Robu who resigned. Known for his picnic style, he was mayor, engineer, scientific researcher, and later university rector at the famous Timisoara Technical University, where it is still a privilege to enter. He began his political career in 2008. In that year he was also elected a member of the Romanian Senate, representing the county of Timis. He was also a member of the Education Committee of the Romanian Parliament, but also resigned his mandate and membership of the Committee in hopes of winning the highest office in Timisoara. In the same year, he was elected mayor of Timisoara in the colors of the Social Liberal Union, so to speak, the national liberals.
Robu’s eight-year reign is highly controversial. He considered the local media as the main enemy of the impulsive mayor – and the trees of the city -, he came into conflict with journalists more than once, so he has always been a daily actor for the population of the multicultural city.
Photo: Nicolae Robu / Facebook
Timisoara is an IT and economic center with a high GDP, countless foreign manufacturing and service companies settled in the city after the revolution. At least two thousand Italian companies have registered in the last 15 years. Leading this dynamically developing minority of at least 4-5 and the Romanian majority (65%) in a coordinated way is a huge task, but since the regime change, almost all mayors have had the opportunity to complete their functions during his second term. Nicolae Robu has been constantly preparing for the city to become the European Capital of Culture for the past 4 years. According to his opponents, he managed development funds on an ad hoc basis, cultural sites, investments did not start or stopped, and in most cases he could not meet the payment obligations of the city administration.
World stall settlement city!
Robu said in an interview on election night:
I am very satisfied with the way in which I have exercised the prerogatives of leadership, I cannot be blamed for stealing, I am a stubborn but honest politician in the public conscience, and I withdraw from the stage anyway. Attacking me because I want to build a world city from a stable settlement is foolish!
Robu is something of a urbanization favorite, impressing panel dwellers, for example, cutting down trees from residential areas without remorse for the sake of parking lots. In any case, it was characteristic of the mayor that by completely changing the contemporary character of Timisoara, he did not repair the cobbled streets of the old town, in many cases the historic center, but paved them with noble simplicity.
It was in this environment that Dominic Fritz arrived, who soon felt the pulsation of the city and was finally able to successfully address the multinational city.
Nicolae Robu, after losing his mandate, sent a text message to the leader of his party, Ludovic Orban, who is also the Prime Minister of Romania, to resign from all party positions, especially the presidency of Timisoara, the Monday in the morning.
After election night, I fell asleep with the phone in hand, so I couldn’t even post. I have slept as well as I have known since. I’m a fair-play guy who says it’s okay, no anger. I left a city in excellent condition, I wish you much success in your management
The outgoing mayor told one of the main Romanian news channels.
From Germany to Timisoara
Dominic Samuel Fritz, the young liberal politician, took Timisoara, also apostrophized as the capital of Banat, as a strong bastion of National Liberals (NLP) on an equal footing with Cluj. Could it emerge in the reader that he has fought against a liberal liberal? In Romania, in fact, the National Liberal Party, formed in the late 1990s, considers itself a center-right (with anti-Hungarian overtones), while Save Romania was launched as a movement critical to the system. He built on the success of the 2013 national protests to save Rosia Montana. Her first competition was the 2016 Romanian parliamentary elections. She is a member of the Renew Europe party group, which is traditionally a liberal party, such as the Hungarian Momentum Movement, while the PNL belongs to the European People’s Party.
Dominic Fritz was born in Germany in 1983. He is known as a lover of music and art, conducts and plays the cello excellently, so he does not have a specialized degree. He studied political science and municipal law in Konstanz, Germany, and then continued in York, UK. He came to Banat in 2003 and participated in a mission to help children’s homes and orphanages as a volunteer for the I Am a Helping Europe organization. He then fell in love with life in Banat, where he later formed an association for social and cultural affairs. He learned Romanian, partly Hungarian, and also bought an apartment in Timisoara. He also oversaw his projects in the capital of Banat during the time he was office manager to President Horst Köhler. He was the only mayoral candidate whose closest ties to local Hungarians had been established in recent years. In his campaign videos, he also spoke in Hungarian to city residents.
No Romanian citizenship
In the elections of September 27, Dominic Fritz obtained 54.88% of the votes, followed by NLP Nicolae Robu with 34.10%. The candidate of German nationality has no ancestors from Transylvania or Banat, he does not even have Romanian citizenship. Still, it could start, because a European legal harmonization made it possible for any EU citizen to run for mayor in Romania, even in Hungary, after 2015, as long as they are a resident of that settlement.
Before the elections, he gave an interview to the Diario de Transilvania, in which he assures that he became politically involved in 2017, when the then ruling party, the Social Democrats (PSD), wanted to legalize corruption, causing thousands of Timisoara to take to the streets . Thus, he became a participant and one of the defenders of the Save Romania wave of demonstrations. In the interview, he states:
I love Timisoara too much not to be left out.
Dominic believes it may have been his political sex drive that, as an outsider, was not part of the system that has run Romania for thirty years.
I am especially happy to have become mayor of a city that is ethnically and religiously diverse.
Almost eight hundred thousand German-speaking people lived in Transylvania, most of them in the Banat, along with the Hungarians, played an important historical role in the formation of Timisoara. Since 1950, the ethnic composition of Timisoara has changed, becoming a city inhabited mainly by Romanians. A new young nation with a new identity seeks a place in the region, reclaiming its past for itself. It was in this medium that he had to find and “sell” his political creed to Dominic, who came from outside. It seems to have found the sound. He also stood out in history, building his campaign by addressing the common destiny of those who live in the city from the perspective of several centuries.
Through three centuries of painstaking work, the Banat Swamp was drained to make the city an economically prosperous settlement. It took two centuries for the Turkish yoke to be thrown off, and Timisoara could once again become a city of western tones. It took another two hundred years for the city to become a prosperous and renewable commercial center from a military stronghold, run by German, Bulgarian, Hungarian or Romanian mayors. In December 1989, it took 5 days and tens of thousands of people to make Timisoara a city free from the oppression of the dictatorship.
Multilingualism and national minorities
One of the goals of the newly elected mayor is to mark all of Timisoara’s historic sites in the language of the city’s minorities. Its aim is to present the role of national minorities in the creation of modern Timisoara. He also gives answers to the reconstruction and describes how he thinks Timisoara should prepare for the role of European Capital of Culture from 2023. You can do this in your campaign video: any language you said Timisoara seems to have understood.
The candidate also sent a message to fifteen thousand Hungarians residing in the city, which, upon seeing the results of the elections, bore fruit:
I will revitalize the Minority Advisory Board and take seriously plans to preserve the identity of the national community. We will support the Hungarian theater and the Béla Bartók secondary school. Both institutions do an extraordinary job not only for the benefit of the Hungarian community, but also the entire population of Timisoara.
The newly elected mayor thanked the people of Timisoara in a video message, in a modest and brief way. In his speech, he specifically emphasized that he also represents those who did not vote for him.
There was a revolution in Timisoara again, but the townspeople did not vote for something, they voted for something. Change with RSU was believed to be tangible, feasible. I have received votes from various areas of life, I cannot personally thank everyone for their trust, but I see that I will have time to reach everyone without exception.
The mayor also spoke that critics of the system and independence are winning in Romania, indicating that the era of a new and open Romania has arrived.
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