Cătălin Drula is among the first to announce his intention to run for the Capital City Hall elections. His candidacy was formalized on November 2, during a USR event in which the president Nicușor Dan also participated.
PHOTO Inquam / Octav Ganea
Cătălin Drula is one of the old close associates of President Nicușor Dan, from whom he says he has support for the position of Mayor of the Capital. For his part, the head of state hinted that he has a favorite, but refused to name it. However, he participated in the event where the candidacy of Cătălin Drula from the USR was formalized.
Connections with the political world
A member of the old USR team, Cătălin Drula supported Nicușor Dan in the past for the position of mayor of the Capital from the position of head of the USR in 2024. However, the result of the elections on June 9, last year, led him to resign from the top of the political formation. The party was left with only two MEPs and lost mayors in Bucharest in the alliance with PMP and Forța Dreptei.
However, his debut in the political world was alongside the former prime minister Dacian Cioloș. In 2015, he was appointed personal adviser to Prime Minister Dacian Cioloş on infrastructure issues, and in 2016 he entered the Parliament with a mandate as a deputy for Timiş from the USR. He is currently in his third term in Parliament.
Cătălin Drula also coordinated the electoral campaigns in the USR for the 2019 European Parliament elections, and then he was Dan Barna’s campaign manager for the presidential elections of the same year.
“It’s a dog”
He was part of the cabinet led by former Prime Minister Florin Cîțu, in the position of Minister of Transport, this being the context in which he asserted himself the most in the public space. The first episode that brought him notoriety was the conflict with the Free Metro Union (USLM) and the evacuation of commercial premises from the underground. At that moment, the scene that became famous also took place, when Ștefan Paraschiv, the general director of Metrorex, entered a kiosk with a crowbar, which led Drula to declare that “a cartel is destroyed with a crowbar”, remaining in the public memory.
Later, it was said about the former Minister of Transport that “he is a dog”. More precisely, PNL deputy George Stângă and the president of the Prahova County Council, Iulian Dumitrescu, were recorded by the DNA prosecutors right in the office of the Minister of Transport while they were asking Cătălin Drula to keep the heads of the Romanian Association for Saving Human Lives at Sea and the River Administration of the Lower Danube Galați in office. “I can’t say he’s human, this Drula is a dog and we have to find a solution for him”, the administrator of a company said at one point.
Training and Experience
A software engineer by profession, Cătălin Drula studied in Canada at the University of Toronto, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in the field of Informatics, in 2002 and 2005, respectively.
There he stood out through the development of new communication platforms. He then returned to Romania, where he became involved in civil society within the ProInfrastructura Association, focusing on the transport infrastructure in our country. In 2015 he founded the Pro Infrastructure Association.
wealth
According to the wealth declaration completed in December 2024, Cătălin Drula has invested in numerous international stocks and funds.
Drula owns an inner-city land in Mogoșoaia (Ilfov), with an area of 1,490 square meters, bought in 2014, the only real estate listed in the document. In the movable property section, there is a BMW car manufactured in 2012, purchased through a sales-purchase agreement.
However, most of the wealth is represented by financial assets. The politician declared accounts and investments at several international banks and platforms, including BCR, Banca Transilvania, Credit Europe Bank, Revolut, Saxo Bank, Equity Zen, Interactive Brokers, as well as government securities. All this in lei, euros, dollars or pounds. Among the most important are shares valued at more than 2 million US dollars in Zipline International Inc. He also has shares valued between a few thousand and tens of thousands in Bank of America, Hidroelectrica, Evergent, Transelectrica, Transgaz, BRD, Premier Energy and Wizz Air Holdings.
He has no active loans, and in terms of income, in the last fiscal year, Drula collected 141,399 lei from the deputy’s allowance, 51,874 lei from interest on deposits and bonds, 1,917 lei from dividends from shares, 2,618 lei from the transfer of securities to the stock exchange.
Chances in the race for the Capital City Hall
The polls are not very kind to the USR candidate. He is always placed second or third in voting intention, after his colleagues from the governing parties, the PSD and PNL candidates. In August, Cătălin Drula was rated with 20% by Avangarde, being below Băluță and Ciucu, both in first place with 25%.
The most recent survey, published by Avangarde (polling house led by sociologist Marius Pieleanu), places Daniel Băluță (PSD) in first place, with 25%, followed by Ciprian Cicu (PNL), rated with 23%, Cătălin Drula (USR), with 18% and Anca Alexandrescu (independent), who has 16%.
He is also in third place in a poll conducted by Novel Research (polling company founded in 2007 by Marian Marcu and Lăcrămioara Bîrlică), commissioned by the PNL, where he is rated with 16.7%. According to the research, 26.4% of respondents would vote for Ciprian Ciucu, while 24.5% would choose Daniel Băluță
