Gheorghe Funar

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Gheorghe Funar (b. September 29, 1949 in Sânnicolau Mare) is a nationalist Romanian politician, who rose to fame as mayor of Cluj-Napoca between 1992 and 2004.

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Biography

He became well known for his very strong nationalist stance in favor of ethnic Romanians in Cluj-Napoca, which is a multi-ethnic city with an ethnic Romanian majority (79.39%) and a significant ethnic Hungarian population (18.96%). Other ethnic groups include Roma and Germans. Cluj-Napoca is considered to be the capital city of Transylvania, a historical region within Romania with historic ties to both Hungary and Romania.

Funar was a candidate for presidency for the Romanian National Unity Party (PUNR) in 1992 and 1996. In 1997, after he was expelled from PUNR, he joined the far-right Greater Romania Party. Funar lost the Cluj-Napoca mayoral elections in the first round in 2004. Emil Boc of the Justice and Truth Alliance won the elections during the second round run-off elections against Social Democratic Party (PSD) candidate Ioan Rus.

Funar is currently the General Secretary of the Greater Romania Party and is a Member of Parliament. Among his proposals in the national government is the distribution of Romanian-language Bibles to all citizens, and the raising of a statue of Mihai Eminescu in every commune.

He is married to Sabina Funar, a professor at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Cluj-Napoca.

Mayorship of Cluj-Napoca

While many voters may have claimed that they voted for him only due to his economic policies, Funar's views demonstrated that tensions over Transylvania's ethnic identity continued after the end of Communism in Romania in 1989 and more than seventy years after Transylvania became a part of Romania. His views were often manifested in public policy. Among many other measures seen by many as an affront to the ethnic Hungarian community, Funar requested the municipality to paint many public items—including park benches, pavements and even garbage bins—in the colors of the Romanian flag (blue, yellow and red). At Christmas time, the municipality was allowed to use only red, yellow and blue Christmas lights.

In 1993, the city's central plaza, "Piaţa Libertăţii" (Liberty Square), was renamed "Piaţa Unirii" (Unification Square), to call to mind the 1918 unification of Transylvania and Romania. He changed the label of the statue of Matthias Corvinus from "Matthias Rex Hungarorum" (Matthias King of Hungarians) to just "Matthias Rex". In September 1996, when Romania signed a friendship treaty with Hungary, Funar organized a funeral ceremony on the streets of Cluj-Napoca. In 1997, he hung a banner in front of the Hungarian Consulate in Cluj saying "This is the seat of the Hungarian spies in Romania". Many of Funar's changes were reversed under the mayorship of his successor, Emil Boc.

Between 1992 and 1993, Funar supported a large-scale Ponzi scheme run by Caritas, a company based in Cluj-Napoca. Funar helped Caritas build its credibility by renting space for it in the town hall, appearing with its owner in public and at on television, and defending the company from attacks.[1] Funar also gave Caritas space in the local newspaper to list the names of the winners (amounting 44 pages in 1993) and lent him space at the local stadium to run his operations.[2]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Katherine Verdery, "Faith, Hope, and Caritas in the Land of the Pyramids: Romania, 1990 to 1994", Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 37, No. 4. (Oct., 1995), pp. 654
  2. ^ Pyramid Scheme a Trap for Many Romanians, November 13, 1993, New York Times

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