Everything starts from a key question: what do we actually want from Bucharest? To be a great European Capital. Let’s be proud of this city. Let it be a place where we love to live, work and love. Let’s raise our children and grandchildren safely here. To offer us professional opportunities and unforgettable moments for free time. Let’s find our trust in ourselves and each other here. Let’s be an example for the whole country. These are all common sense answers.
And all of them can be reduced to one thing: Bucharest must be Romania’s most dynamic engine of development. Development means better jobs, quality public services, opportunities, order and peace.
The stake of Bucharest’s development is not a local one, but a national and even European one, through the multiplier effect that a strong economic engine has. Here is the latent strength of a great capital, in fact, the strength of its people, held in place by years of slowness and administrative incompetence.
Bucharest is Romania’s most important economic engine and has no other option but to assume the role of leader. He has the vocation and he has the potential. As proof, although it has not had competent mayors recently, Bucharest’s economy has caught up with the most developed regions in Europe, especially after joining the European Union (EU). However, this is not reflected in the standard of living of Bucharest residents, in the quality of public services, in the way the city looks and functions.
In economic terms, Bucharest competes head to head with the best performing cities in Europe. In terms of GDP per capita relative to purchasing power parity, we have surpassed Rome, Berlin, Madrid, Amsterdam, Vienna, Budapest and many other European capitals. This means that in theory one could live better in Bucharest than in all other places. But everyday reality contradicts the dry figures.
Why? The answer is all in the numbers. In terms of public administration performance, Bucharest ranks last in the EU. Yes, you read that right. According to the public administration performance index, compiled by the European Commission, Bucharest is in last place. The disastrous performance of the previous administrations can be seen everywhere in the city: the historic center of Bucharest looks like after the bombing, with broken sidewalks from 5 years ago (and left unrepaired), with gray buildings full of graffiti, with cars parked everywhere, with public spaces where you are afraid to take your children out.
The obvious discrepancy between the performance of the ordinary Bucharest citizen and the performance of the Bucharest administration is clearly seen in the difference between Bucharest’s GDP and Bucharest’s performance on the European public administration quality index. The people of Bucharest put the city in the top, and the mayors of the last years pulled it down.
It is obvious that the biggest problem of Bucharest in recent years is that it has not had a mayor who really loves the city. Our city lived only with rags and put out fires – sometimes literally, and the tragedy in the Colectiv club is a still open wound, which must remind us every day that indifference and corruption sometimes cost human lives. There is no assumed vision for Bucharest, just as there is no mature portfolio of strategic projects, and day-to-day investment management is completely lacking. Suspended highways, punctures and widening of boulevards are announced with trumpets and trumpets, but all remained on paper. And the objectives where the ribbons were cut are not the ones carried to the end either. This is the case of the Basarab Passage, which is not received even today.
All this is felt by the people of Bucharest, who do not feel good in their city. A study conducted by the World Bank a few years ago shows that the people of Bucharest are among the most dissatisfied in the country with the city they live in, while the people of Cluj and Oradea are the most satisfied with their community. Unfortunately, the Capital is surpassed by other much smaller cities, with a much less performing economy and with much thinner budgetary resources.
Details and concrete data can be found in the “Plan for Bucharest”, Litera publishing house, 2024 (https://www.litera.ro/planul-pentru-bucuresti-afdiv336).
Bucharest was badly administered. It is a reality that calls us all to action. “Joy IS YOU”. You, from Bucharest. You made Bucharest one of the best performing cities in Europe. It is the turn of the public administration to rise to this level, to help citizens reach their potential, not to hinder them at every step and drag them down. There are decades wasted between experiments that either “stole, but did”, or “didn’t do, but did steal”, or “didn’t steal, but didn’t do”. It’s time for change.
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