The leaders of the PNL-PSD coalition decided on Monday evening that the head of Romania’s representative to the European Commission, Ramona Chiriac, should be the “independent woman” sought by Marcel Ciolacu to occupy the first place on the lists for the European Parliament elections.
The PNL – PSD list is almost complete, the candidates being among the VIPs of the two parties. Mihai Tudose, Victor Negrescu, Simona Bucura-Oprescu, Dan Nica are running from the PSD, and Rareș Bogdan, Vasile Blaga, Adina Vălean, Daniel Buda from the PNL.
As for talks on the candidates for the Bucharest City Hall, they are stalling.
Amid the disagreement between the two ruling parties, Marcel Ciolacu and Nicolae Ciucă also considered that the two parties present separate candidates for the Capital City Hall. This, after both parties analyzed opinion polls commissioned especially for this session, which should have shown them which common candidate is better placed in the electorate’s options.
According to the PNL survey, Cristian Popescu Piedone was at the top of the voting preferences of Bucharest residents, followed by Nicușor Dan. In the polls ordered by districts, Sebastian Burduja could beat Clotilde Armand in District 1, and Cristian Popescu from PSD the current USR mayor. If each party imposes its candidate, without taking into account the PNL-PSD alliance, it could mean that Gabriela Firea could be the PSD candidate against Nicușor Dan. The Social Democrats do not officially support Cristian Popescu Piedone, although he had a meeting with Marcel Ciolacu to discuss exactly this topic.
According to the calculations of the Coalition under the conditions of separate candidacies, the Capital City Hall is won by less than 30% if the current situation is maintained. “It’s nowhere near 30%, and it can take 95% of the United Right electorate and 40% of the PNL electorate,” sources from the Coalition told Hotnews.ro.
“The PSD-PNL joint list has 51%, people vote for the joint list, the hate for George Simion has increased to 74% in Bucharest. We have a big problem with the joint candidate for the Capital. Burduja, the only candidate, goes up to at most 20 -22%. Firea is decreasing, it has around 30% common candidate. If Firea is the candidate, Nicușor’s chances increase, because there was a high level of hate,” the Coalition sources also say.
Who is Ramona Chiriac?
Ramona Chiriac is a career diplomat, with almost 20 years of experience in EU affairs, including at the local level in Romania.
Ramona Chiriac has been the consul general of Romania in Munich since 2016 and has been part of the Romanian diplomatic service since 2008. Before her experience of over a decade in diplomatic positions, she worked in the central and local public administration in Romania, especially for the training of local authorities Romanians for the country’s accession to the EU. Within the Romanian Ministry of European Integration, she was particularly responsible for the promotion of EU values.
In the 2000s, she was the chief of staff of PNL prefect Gabriel Berca. She followed him to Bucharest, after he was appointed general secretary in the Tăriceanu Government, occupying the position of chief of staff, according to local media. Later, Berca was sentenced to two years in prison for influence peddling.
Chiriac graduated from European studies at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She holds two master’s degrees, one in European Studies and one in Gender Studies.
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