INTERVIEW | Dominic Fritz, Mayor of Timișoara de Neamț: “I want to apply for Romanian citizenship” | News, News Romania | Freedom

Timisoara’s new mayor, USR-PLUS candidate Dominic Fritz, can put a landslide victory on his CV. According to the party’s counters, he obtained more than 50% of the votes of the people of Timisoara.

Dominic Fritz is German, does not have Romanian citizenship and started coming to Timișoara 17 years ago, as a volunteer in a children’s home. He spoke for Libertatea about the first things he will do in the mayor’s office and about his political career.

Dominic Samuel Fritz is 37 years old, born, raised and studied in Germany. He has a bachelor’s degree in political and administrative science and a master’s degree in post-conflict studies.

He was chief of staff to a former German president, Horst Köhler, and has more than ten years of administrative experience.

He is not married, he has no children, but he celebrated the victory in the center of Timisoara, together with his Asian friend, a UN diplomat.

He agreed to speak for Libertatea about the first things he will do in the mayor’s office, but also about a future collaboration with PNL. He also told us what he prefers to go to work with.

“I called the former president of Germany”

Freedom: Who was the first person in Germany you called when you found out you won?
Dominic Fritz: I called, first of all, my whole family on WhatsApp, they were all my brothers and parents and I told them that I won. Then I called the former president of Germany and thanked him for being a good mentor to me.

– Are you thinking of applying for Romanian citizenship?
– Yes, when I can, I want to apply for Romanian citizenship, because I cannot take it, but the Romanian state must give it to me.

“We want to appoint neighborhood administrators in the mayor’s office”

– If we talk a little about the mayor’s office, before starting work, what is the first thing you want to do when you arrive at the institution?
“It’s very difficult for me to answer that question, because it’s not the only thing I want to do.” There are 20 things at the same time, but I’ll definitely want to meet with the mayor’s office employees and officials on the first day. Then of course we have to set up an audit, I want to know what invoices were unpaid and then we have some strategic projects that we want to set up fairly quickly, for the Project Implementation Unit, to attract European funds. We want a structure in the mayor’s office that promises closeness to the people of the neighborhoods, that is, we want to appoint neighborhood administrators in the mayor’s office.

It would be a luxury if I could do only one thing. I want to meet people, I think that’s what anyone should do, because in the end I don’t want to work against the city council machine, but with the people. Whoever is acting must not be afraid.

The bike remains, the service car – a Dacia

– An aspect that attracted much public attention: the service car used by the mayor of Timișoara is a Mercedes bought by the Retim sanitation company. Do you keep it? Will you go with a German or Romanian car? Or do you go by bicycle or public transport?
– I also promised in the campaign that if I needed a service car, it would be a Dacia. I want a Romanian car. For now, I’ll be able to ride my bike if it doesn’t rain. I prefer to ride a bike, once in a while and by public transport. I would like to have a modern, comfortable, and fast public transport, so that anyone can use it, from mayor to student. And I’m sure we can do that.

– According to the calculations of the parallel calculation, you obtained 13 terms of councilor, how do you see a collaboration with the NLP at the local level?
– I have not had any political discussions yet, I spoke very briefly with Alin Nica, who will run for the position of branch president, and I congratulated him on his victory in the Diputación. We assure each other that we will work well together, for the benefit of the people of Timișoara.

For me, it is important for my governing partners, in my administration, to support my program and my vision for Timisoara, to support administrative reform, to support a focus, an openness of the administration, to be closer to the people, to depoliticize the administration. . These are my goals and I will look for a partner with whom I can achieve them.

“In the future government, not only USR-PLUS will play an important role, but also USR-PLUS Timisoara”

– In the perspective of the December elections, how do you see a collaboration with the PNL?
– I am very happy that I won with the USR-PLUS alliance and I certainly sent a signal for the parliamentary elections. The good governance revolution at the local level in Timișoara that we started will continue at the effective governance level. Certainly, in the future government, not only USR-PLUS will play an important role, but also USR-PLUS Timișoara.

– Do you consider yourself to be from the left or from the right, how would you define yourself and how would you define RSU ideologically?
– USR is a center-right party. But I believe that all these labels have been abused in Romania in the last 30 years. The old parties were not organized around values ​​or ideologies, but only group interests. That is why it is quite difficult to define ourselves in this sense, precisely because these labels have lost all meaning.

I think now is a time when we don’t have to ask ourselves if we want a bigger or smaller state, the left wants a slightly bigger expansive state, the right a more limited state, I think the most important challenge now. in Romania it is to have a functional status. And the functionality of public institutions is the most important thing on the agenda and this can unite left and right, ideologically speaking.

– Are you starting your political career, do you have bigger plans for a few years? Maybe moving to Bucharest?
“I have no plans for such a thing.” I have not even taken my oath as mayor of Timisoara, Timisoara is now my priority, nothing more.

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