Creart announces the cancellation of the Bucharest Easter Fair / The necessary budget supplement was not approved by the General Council

Creart announces that the 12th edition of the official Easter Fair of the Capital, which was to be held in King Mihai I Park, between April 27 and May 6, will be canceled due to recent budget adjustments, reports Agerpres.

The clarifications come after, in Tuesday’s meeting of the General Council of the Capital, the mayor Nicusor Dan proposed a budget rectification, as a result of which Creart’s income would have been supplemented by 1.5 million, so that the institution could organize the Easter Fair. The proposal to supplement the agenda was rejected, gathering 19 votes “for”, 31 abstentions and one vote against.

“There are two important things that are in the rectification project. One is the submission of a funding request for European funds by the Metropolitan Library together with other libraries of other territorial administrative units. We should vote for a contribution from the Municipality of Bucharest of 85,000 lei. The second is a decision to make. Following the changes to the budget that we approved, Creart was left without any money for events and we are requesting one and a half million to be able to organize the Easter fair. If this rectification does not pass, the Easter fair, announced for Herăstrău Park, will be cancelled”, explained Nicuşor Dan.

General Councilor PNL Andrei Badiu replied that it is about “a supplement for bunnies”, which the councilors agreed not to support, during the discussions regarding the Capital’s budget.

“We, in the meetings that were the object of the draft decision related to the budget, said that we – and you confirmed – that we will not vote for bunnies. Now we understand that it is a supplement for bunnies. Help us a little to understand this aspect”, said Badiu

The PNL representative also asked the general mayor if it is true that the “Open Streets” event will be organized on the very day of the elections, “in almost all sectors” of the Capital.

Nicusor Dan replied that the overlapping of the elections with “Open Streets” was “an error” that was not initially noticed by the advisory commission, but that this event was abandoned.

“Yes, it’s true, in the first address that was sent to the sector town halls, in which we requested the collaboration of the local sector police in the events that we wanted to organize in the sectors – not on Calea Victoriei – the election weekend had also passed. It was an error that no one realized: neither from the Police, nor from the Gendarmerie, nor from the local police, no one from the committee that approved. Later, we gave up because it is not natural to connect ‘Open Streets’ with the elections and that weekend there will only be elections”, said Nicuşor Dan

On his Facebook page, Creart stated that the official Easter Fair of the Capital has become a tradition of Bucharest, being visited annually by over 100,000 city residents and tourists.

“The cultural event presented authentic art and crafts from all ethnographic areas of the country, over 80 local creators and producers participating in the fair, in each edition. We regret that we are in the real impossibility of continuing our mission, the promotion and support of traditions and intangible national heritage, and we assure you that we are concentrating our efforts to maintain the cultural benefits of the public, the citizens of the capital. We thank all the craftsmen, plastic artists and producers who choose, for so many years, to register in the selection procedure of the Easter Fair and other such projects organized by CREART, guaranteeing the quality, authenticity and representativeness of the national culture, as well as the numerous visitors who appreciate it and are actively involved in preserving it”, said the cited source.