[ad_1]
The USR began as a local activist movement, founded by Nicusor Dan, the current Mayor General of the Capital, 14 years ago, and ended up assuming six ministries in the Government that should lead the country for the next four years.
The starting point was the “Save Bucharest Association”, founded by Nicusor Dan, in 2006, in reaction to the demolition of heritage houses by property speculators, the construction of high-rise blocks in sheltered neighborhoods and the decline of green spaces in Bucharest . .
In March 2008, the association published a report, “Bucharest, an urban disaster”, which discussed Bucharest’s current problems and ways to solve them. That same year, during local elections, together with other NGOs, the association published a Pact for Bucharest, which was signed by all the mayoral candidates.
Little Dan, from standalone to USB
Nicușor Dan announced his candidacy as an independent for the post of Mayor of Bucharest in November 2011 at a cafe on Arthur Verona Street, with only a few guests, including Theodor Paleologu, historian and MP.
To gather the 36,000 signatures necessary for the candidacy, without the support of any party, he relied on a network of volunteers organized through Facebook. On April 22, 15 bands and musicians sang pro bono at the Roman Arenas to help Nicusor Dan collect signatures.
Although he did not receive any support from political parties, Nicușor Dan obtained 8.48% of the vote, although polls had credited him only 3%. Nicușor Dan was not granted the right to join the CGMB (general city council), because the current system makes it almost impossible for an independent to join the CGMB, since a candidate in such a position must obtain three or more votes than necessary for each councilor supported by a party ”. In an interview in June 2012, Nicușor Dan stated that at that time he did not intend to found a party, adding that “the fight for Bucharest is just beginning, at this time.”
However, on June 1, 2015, Nicușor Dan announced the launch of the Save the Bucharest Union (USB) political platform. During the launch press conference, Nicușor Dan declared: “We will continue the fight with the public administration in Bucharest, we will always say about the aberrational spending of public money, about illegality, we will talk about the comfort of living or lack of it and, at the same time, we will come with our vision and project for Bucharest. We are not ideologically delimited. What we want to do is very simple: there are some problems, we want to fix them! This city has no vision. We come to propose it ”.
June 2016 local elections, cornerstone of RSU
USB’s stated goal was to win the local elections on June 5, 2016 in Bucharest. USB obtained more than 25% of the votes cast but failed to win any of the 7 mayor seats. In August 2016, USB became the Save Romania Union, a party that announced that it would stand in the December parliamentary elections. 9% of the voters voted for USR at that time.
In the protests of the first months of 2017, members of the USR participated actively, earning the nickname of the party #resist. Members of the USR protested even in the plenary sessions of Parliament, with banners and anti-PSD chants, and even resorted to prison in Parliament for several nights until the repeal of GEO13.
RSU, the first major victory, followed by the first failure
The peak moment from an electoral point of view for RSU is definitely represented by the European elections of 2019. USR ranked third in the elections, just 0.1% behind PSD. They then obtained 22.4% of the votes and sent 8 MEPs to Brussels.
In the context of these results, then-USR leader and current USR PLUS co-chair Dan Barna entered the presidential race. However, the result was not as desired. Dan Barna was unable to enter the second round, being overtaken by Klaus Iohannis and Viorica Dăncilă.
To #resist to seven seats in government
USR-PLUS has gone from being a party known more for the opposition, the anti-PSD chants and banners or the music in plenary sessions, to a party that receives seven seats in the future government: six ministries and a deputy prime minister.
“We find the best solution to have a parliamentary majority and a Government that has the competence and balance and the power of representation of the three forces … The portfolios assumed by USR PLUS are the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Research, Innovation and … Digitization. In addition, the Ministry of Economy with the entrepreneurial side of SMEs. These are the six wallets. ”Declared Dan Barna at the end of the negotiations in Vila Lac.
6 of 18 ministries. A third, for a party that represented only 15 percent in the parliamentary elections on December 6, 2020.
It remains to be seen what will happen to the party led by Dan Barna and Dacian Ciolos until 2024, when the next electoral rounds are scheduled, but also what kind of politics they will promote. Because they are no longer in the opposition and can no longer raise banners in plenary, now they must govern.
[ad_2]
