The story of Romanian men and women who were elected mayors in European cities

Berlin, Gorlitz, Stavenhagen, Germany and Paramo de Boedo, Spain all have one thing in common- Romanians as their mayors or deputy mayors. We will look in this article at who they are and how they were chosen by their locals to care for their cities.

Ramona Pop- deputy mayor for Berlin, Germany

Ramona Pop was elected as a deputy mayor ( also called Burgermeisterin) in 2016 as a representative of the Green party.   Originally from Timisoara, she migrated with her mother and grandmother in 1988. She then graduated from the Munster highschool and specialized in political studies at the Otto Suhr Institute at the FU Berlin University. She joined the Green party when she was only 24 years old. in 1997 and in 2006 she has become a member of the regional parliament in Berlin and from 2012 she is senator for Economy, Energy, and Enterprises (Senatorin für Wirtschaft, Energie und Betriebe).

Octavian Ursu- mayor of Gorlitz

Octavian Ursu originally from Bucharest was voted as a mayor for the city of Gorlitz, Germany with 55,1% in 2019. He migrated to Germany in 1990 and worked as a classical musician, playing the trumpet at the Neueu Lausitzer Philharmonie in Gorlitz. In 2009 he joined the Christian Democratic Union party and in 2010 he took the lead of the party. In 2014 he was chosen in the Saxon federal land and then he was elected as a mayor.

Stefan Guzu- mayor of Ivenack and Stavenhagen

Originally from Poiana-Ilvei, Bistrita-Nasaud, Stefan Guzu migrated to Germany in 1996 where he worked as a police officer. He was elected honorific mayor of Ivenack and then in 2019 he was elected as a full-time mayor of Stavenhagen with 69,6% votes. He now works as mayor for both towns and also as a police officer. Since Stefan Guzu moved to Germany, he has never forgotten where he came from and he has been helping his hometown with important donations for the locals, the associations and the hospitals. You can read more about his work in this article.

Aurel Truta- mayor of Paramo de Boedo

Aurel Truta, from Alba Iulia moved to Spain 21 years ago.  He started picking olives in the south of Spain, then he worked in the hospitality industry in Benidorm. He opened his own cafeteria in Alcala de Henares and then a construction company in Madrid. He finally settled in Paramo de Boedo, right in the center of Spain, where he bought a house and decided to settle down.  He said in the Spanish press that he never had plans to become a mayor. Now he was elected as mayor of the little town of Paramo de Boedo ( population 126) .

Apart from being elected as mayors, Romanians have run for different other positions. For example, Valerica Artene was elected councilor in Cholsey, United Kingdom and Roxana Maracineanu was elected as Minister of Sports in France.