The incumbent mayor of Timisoara, Dominic Fritz, who won a new mandate in Sunday's elections, said on Monday that the decision of Save Romania Union (USR) Chairman Catalin Drula to convene a congress to elect a new party leadership is a correct one, and that he will assume a candidacy for the USR leadership at the next congress.
Fritz stressed that the biggest stake is for Romania to elect a right-wing president in September.
"As of today, the biggest stake is that in September, this country elects a right-wing president. There is no higher stakes than this and, in this sense, of course it hurts me to see that my own party, USR, got a score that does not match our ambitions, Romania's ambitions and the potential that the USR party and the United Right Alliance have. That is why I believe that the decision of my chairman, Catalin Drula, to convene a congress to elect a new leadership of the party is an assumed and correct one," Dominic Fritz told a press conference.
He said he would not run for any state office this year.
"I am sure that together with him and all my colleagues in the party we will find the best formula to move forward. I say very clearly: I will not run for any state office this year, but neither can I sit passively in a very difficult situation for USR, a party I believe in, with many people I trust, a party I am convinced Romania needs. That is why, after Catalin Drula called me today and told me that he wants to retire from the leadership, I will assume a candidacy for the USR party chairmanship at the next congress," Fritz pointed out.
The mayor explained, however, that he was elected mayor of Timisoara, "the greatest honour of his life," and will stay in Timisoara.
"I am a mayor and I will remain a mayor, I will not go anywhere, but I cannot ignore the fact that yesterday, in Timisoara, I sent a signal that it is possible to fight with this colossus, and that is why I cannot close my eyes to the fact that we, Timisoara citizens, have a responsibility and maybe even a vocation to be co-responsible for the national fate. I believe that the future of Romania will only be good when we have a future in which the cities and regions of Romania will have something to say again, a true decentralisation in Romania," said Dominic Fritz.
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