Originally from the central Romanian town of Fagaras, Dan was a maths prodigy, studying in Bucharest and Paris, where he earned his PhD.
After a period as a mathematics researcher and civic activist fighting the demolition of historic buildings in Bucharest, Dan first dabbled in politics in 2015, when he founded Union Save Bucharest, USB; this later morphed into Union Save Romania, USR, and entered parliament.
Dan, however, quit in 2017, citing internal policy differences between conservative and progressive factions of the party. Dan held onto his parliamentary seat as an independent and went on to win two consecutive mayoral elections in Bucharest in 2020 and 2024.
But what makes Antonescu say this:
I am caught between the shallow demagogues who will ruin my Romania, and the agents (including Mr. Dan) with ties to the former communist secret police, the Securitate, who, with help from many well-meaning people, have been damaging this country for 20 years,
Is it just political envy or is there substance behind the claims of a fading out politician?
In a former socialist country, everyone has some kind of “ties” to the former socialist machine.
