Clujul Alege/ The Mayoral candidates of AUR and USR want the city to no longer have free public transport

If we develop Cluj, mobility is one of the key components that a future mayor should improve.

The candidates who chose to follow the civil society’s invitation faced each other on Thursday evening in the second public debate in the “Clujul Alege” cycle, organized by the activists from the Clujul Civic Facebook group with the participation of those from the Local Civic Council, discussion moderated by Actualdecluj.ro journalist Kristina Reștea, from the press. The theme this time was Economy. The candidates for mayor or councilor agreed that mobility is a strategic direction for the city and its economy.

However, their visions are different regarding the implementation of this direction.

The AUR candidate, Călin Cozma, showed during the debate that he wants to ban the free public transport on Fridays and the one for pensioners that is currently granted in Cluj. “I support that public transport should not be free, but also that an administrative palace should be built on the outskirts of the city for the bureaucratic part in the relationship with the citizens,” said Cozma.

Declaring himself a “pure blood liberal” during the discussions, USR candidate Viorel Băltărețu also showed that he is not a supporter of freebies. “Part of the public transport is free in the city (…) Someone has to pay. I don’t believe in gratuity (…) We have to make it efficient”, said Băltărețu, answering a question from the audience.

Independent candidate for the City Hall, Sabin Sărmaș showed that the subject of free public transport is not a novelty, nor the biggest problem of the city, but the fact that public transport routes are not made more efficient. “Currently, it is more expensive to stay in the city in a car than to use public transport. Transport in the city is not efficient! The tariff plan is not being reformed, the routes are the same since 1960. Free transport is not a big revolution, but not a very big problem either”, Sabin Sărmaș pointed out.

Dan Morar, PSD candidate for the Local Council, showed during the discussions that he supports the auditing of the companies subordinated to the City Hall, including the transport one, precisely for the efficiency of the spending of public money.

Iulia Costache, Reper candidate for the City Council, showed that, in terms of mobility, there is a very big problem in the city center with regard to supply, showing that the operating schedules, but also those of supply, are not made in agreement with the merchants, in such so that there are really no traffic jams and the shops have employees on duty to be able to take over the goods.

Olah Emeșe from UDMR, candidate and deputy mayor of Cluj, emphasized, in the mobility chapter, that many of the projects have already been started by the administration, giving the example of the metropolitan belt, the metropolitan train, etc.

The debate about the economic development of Cluj, from the Clujul Alege cycle, initiated by the activists from Clujul Civic, with the participation of those from the Local Civic Council, took place on April 25 in the Glass Hall of the City Hall. It is the second debate organized so far, the first taking place on Univesității street in Cluj, recently pedestrianized. All parties and candidates for mayor/councilor in Cluj-Napoca are invited to the discussions. So far, no PNL representative has participated in these discussions.

The debate on April 25 was moderated by the journalist specialized in economics, Kristina Reștea / Actual de Cluj. Iosif Pop, from Clujul Civic, also asked questions.

Sabin Sărmaș, independent candidate for mayor of Cluj-Napoca, Oláh Emese, UDMR candidate for mayor, Călin Cozma, AUR candidate for mayor and Dan Morar, PSD candidate, participated in the discussions on the topic of economy. at the Cluj-Napoc City Council and Iulia Costache, candidate for the Cluj-Napoc City Council.

What vision of development of Cluj do the candidates have?

Sabin Sărmaș, independent candidate, showed that the city must focus on the creation of well-paid jobs and investments, and its economy should have three attributes: to be innovative, inclusive and sustainable. “A strong economy is based on human and financial capital. The human is not a problem for Cluj. Where we do not seem to be performing is attracting specialists, who now come from other areas of the country or from abroad. The city should encourage companies to enter international chains and attract foreign capital to Cluj, a city that currently relies on services. The city should be managed in relations with other urban and rural localities in the county or nearby,” he said.

Vice-mayor Olah Emeșe, UDMR candidate for mayor, said that the local economy and the way it develops is important for everyone.
“We are in a good position. But there is always room for improvement. Not all aspects are related to the local public administration in this economic chapter. There is a national strategy with metropolitan application. Creating optimal conditions for small and medium-sized businesses is important. I don’t think this has happened in recent years and we need to attract other investors. We must take care of human capital to attract them back, to have specialists in any field”, Olah Emese also agreed.

Dan Morar, PSD candidate for the Local Council, showed that, currently, there are 51,000 companies in Cluj, more than in Bihor (29,000) or Maramureș (30,000), which is why the county occupies a good position. However, said Morar, the other two nominated counties have a much faster growth rate than Cluj. “We have to offer companies a clear infrastructure through connectivity, roads, industrial parks, schools, nurseries, kindergartens.(…) The companies subordinated to the mayor’s office that are not efficient must be reformed, especially since they are spending the city’s money and resources,” said Morar .

Călin Cozma, the AUR candidate for the City Hall, applied one “Lord help!” at the beginning of each of the interventions on economic topics. Regarding the vision, he showed that there is no predictability for the business environment in Cluj, but also that the authorizations that are given in the city (for construction, operation) are won through processes and are not granted as would be normal.

Iulia Costache, Landmark candidate for the City Council, showed that the administration must focus on strategic infrastructure projects and on protecting the citizen’s interests in the relationship with investors. “We should not have projects that endanger our health. The city hall must be a mediator between the business environment and the academic environment and contribute to the creation of jobs,” she said.

Viorela Băltărețu, the USR candidate for the City Hall, showed that the strategic approach of a mayor must focus on the local budget, on increasing revenues and streamlining operating costs, at the same time as attracting funding from European sources (…) The tax base should be more fair, a fair one,” he said.

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Luminita Silea

He has been a reporter at ActualdeCluj.ro since April 2014. He worked at the daily Ziua de Cluj from its launch in 2004 until April 2014. He graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of “Babeș-Bolyai” University in 2004 and has two master’s degrees – in Public Administration at the same university and in Communication and Public Relations at the National School of Political and Administrative Studies (SNSPA) Bucharest.