Ever since the quietly spoken and patient mayor of Bucharest was elected president in May 2025, Nicusor Dan has retained an aura around him as a great mathematician.
Romanians revere mathematics: it was something pushed by late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, and even today, Romanians ace and win global maths’ competitions Dictatorships love the exact sciences (mathematics, physics, engineering) and loath the less controllable and creative arts and humanities. In any case, Romania remains associated with global success at mathematics.
Ans now we have a mathematician president, a fact that is often mentioned in articles about him (last week the Financial Times headlined its 4,000 word piece, ‘ the former football hooligan versus the mathematician’).
But what about Nicusor Dan, the person? Less has been written about him beyond the obvious (he speaks slowly and takes time to make up his mind).
Mathematicians and politicians like to disguise their real intentions, although the public can often guess them. Nicusor Dan’s modus operandi, however, has had people scratching their heads. He’s a bit mysterious. Is he secretly pro-PSD? Why does he play games with George Simion et comp (or let them get away with their games?). Why does he seek to blame the PNL and USR while letting the PSD which is Parliament’s biggest party go scot-free? It is simply a mathematical approach that we ordinary mortals can’t fathom?
And what was the nomination of Eugen Tomac as PM about, especially as his government stumbled like a racehorse who tripped over a hurdle and lost the race in the last 100 yards?
But Nicusor Dan finally gave the game away_ even though he’d have preferred to keep his cards close to his chest. It was the unexpected nomination of a no-name Liberal (to the public anyway), Adrian Vestea, to the post of prime minister. Vestea was chosen precisely because he is in opposition to Liberal party leader, Ilie Bolojan, who was ousted in the infamous May 5 no-co-confidence vote, which plunged Romania into a political crisis. Bolojan’s Liberals have said they will not vote a new government.
Before he nominated Vestea on Sunday morning, Dan failed to inform or consult with the Liberals or Bolojan as would be expected_ he merely picked a rebel with no public presence from their ranks.
By doing this, Dan has made clear that his real problem, now and in the coming years ahead of the next presidential elections, is the politician IB, or Ilie Bolojan, the reformist who dared tackle the budget, overspending and other structural problems no other prime minister has done and has gained respect and a following (although not with all)
Nicusor Dan, who has the added handicap of not having a party behind him, fears Ilie Bolojan. Nicusor Dan wants to be Romania’s most reformist and indispensable political leader to the whole wide world. The presence of Ilie Bolojan in high office is an insult to him.
The justice system speaks out but Romania’s president is silent while the rule of law is dismantled
