Gabriela Firea

Gabriela Firea (born Gabriela Vrânceanu, 13 July 1972) is a Romanian journalist and politician who served as mayor of Bucharest.

Gabriela Firea
General Mayor of Bucharest
In office
23 June 2016 – 29 October 2020
Preceded byRăzvan Sava (Acting)
Succeeded byNicușor Dan
Member of the Senate of Romania
Assumed office
21 December 2020
In office
19 December 2012 – 22 June 2016
Government Press secretary
In office
January 2000 – 28 December 2000
Prime MinisterMugur Isărescu
Personal details
Born (1972-07-13) 13 July 1972
Bacău, Bacău County, Socialist Republic of Romania
Political partySocial Democratic Party (2012–present)
Spouse(s)
Răsvan Firea
​
​
(m. 1993; died 2010)​

​
(m. 2010)​
Alma materUniversity of Bucharest
Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies
OccupationJournalist, writer, politician
ProfessionPhilologist, Economist

At the June 2016 local election, Firea was elected the first female mayor of Bucharest.[1] She won 43% from the total of only 33% that went to vote. Her closest challengers, Nicușor Dan (Save Bucharest Union) and Cătălin Predoiu (National Liberal Party), gained 30.5% and 11.2% respectively.[2]

Biography

Gabriela Firea was born in Bacău, being the second of the four children of the Vrânceanu family. The mother, Veronica, was a saleswoman and the father an unskilled worker on the construction site.[3] She has two sisters, Nela and Angelica, and a brother, Ionel.

She has worked in radio, newspapers and television,[4] including as a news presenter.[5] A member of the Social Democratic Party, she was elected to the Romanian Senate in 2012 for an Ilfov County seat. She sat on the Senate's culture committee.[6][7]

She attended the primary school General School no. 8 from the Letea neighborhood, Bacău. And graduated from the Industrial High School no. 1 Bacău and the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bucharest, specialization Communication Sciences. She continued with postgraduate and academic training at the Academy of Economic Studies: International currency and fiscal mechanisms, Banking and stock exchange management, as well as a brokerage course. In 2010 she became a PhD student in economics at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest.[8] Subsequently, she froze her doctoral training program, to dedicate herself to the position of Mayor.

She married Răsvan Firea in 1993 and the couple had one son. One year after Răsvan's death in 2010, she married Florentin Pandele,[4] the mayor of Voluntari.[9] They have two sons.[10]

Professional career

She has started her career in the press in 1990, being a reporter for the weekly "Simply" in Bacău, and then for the daily Azi in Bucharest, in 1991–1992. In 1992–1993 she was editor-presenter at Radio Contact.[11] Between 1993 and 1999 she worked at the Romanian Television as a producer of economic reports, especially financial-banking, editor-presenter of the show "Jurnal", director-moderator of the show "Special Edition" and Producer-moderator of the column "News of the Day".[8][12]

Since 2001 she has worked for the Intact press trust. She was the editor and presenter of the show "Observator" (until July 2009), as well as the director of the show "Financial Week" on Antena 1 and the show "Știrea Zilei" on Antena 3. Since September 2008 she has held the position of general manager of Financial Week magazine,[13] after having previously been the editorial director of the publication since its inception in March 2005. Since June 2009, she has taken over the management of Intact Advertising, an event and advertising agency.[14] She is also the general manager of the newspaper Financiarul and of the magazine Felicia.[15]

Since November 2011, when the Intact Trust reorganized its activity and the business magazines stopped appearing in printed format, Gabriela Firea ended her activity in the publishing area.

Literary and musical activity

Gabriela Firea has been a member of the Writers Union since 2002. She received the debut award from the Bucharest Writers Association in 2001, for the volume of poems "Another World".[16] Her books include the novel "Three Reasons", the children's book "Twisted and Spinning Country", the volume of economic essays "Word Economy" and the volume of socio-economic essays "The Diary of an Observer".[17]

In December 2009, together with Simona Gherghe, he released the folk music album Trandafiri de la Moldova.[18]

Political career

She had begun her political career in 1999 but, after a short time, gave it up and returned to the press.

A member of the Social Democratic Party since August 2012, she ran for a seat in the Senate, in College 1 – Ilfov, in the elections of 9 November 2012, being elected by 74.65% of those who voted. She was a member of the Senate Committee on Culture and Media, vice-chairman of the Joint Committee of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate for the relationship with UNESCO and spokesperson for the group of PSD senators.

On 24 February 2013, she was elected president of the Ilfov county organization of PSD, and at the Congress of 20 April 2013 she was elected vice president of the party at the national level, being proposed by the Social Democratic Women's Organization.

Since 2014, she has been appointed party spokesperson, and in the presidential elections of 2–16 November 2014, she served as PSD spokesperson Victor Ponta.

On 10 February 2016, she was appointed by the PSD National Executive Committee to coordinate the Bucharest branch, as interim president, to prepare for the local elections. On 18 March 2016, she was appointed to run for mayor of Bucharest, a position she won following the 5 June 2016 elections.[19][20] As a result, given her position, in 2016, she did not run for the legislative elections.

Electoral history

Mayor of Bucharest
Election Affiliation First round
Votes Percentage Position
2016 PSD
(supported by UNPR)		246,553
42.97%
 1st 
2020 PSD
(supported by PPU)		250,690
37.97%
 2nd 

Notes
  1. (in Romanian) Ana Maria Lazăr, "Gabriela Firea – prima femeie primar a Capitalei după doar 4 ani de carieră politică", Mediafax, 8 June 2016
  2. (in Romanian) Roxana Preda, "Rezultate finale alegeri locale 2016", Mediafax, 10 June 2016
  3. Petru Luca (31 October 2018), "Tatăl lui Gabi Firea a vândut casa şi fetele au ajuns în stradă", WOWBiz, retrieved 4 June 2020
  4. (in Romanian) Anca Simionescu, "Gabriela Vrânceanu Firea: 'Pandele este singurul bărbat idem cu mine'", Evenimentul Zilei, 5 February 2012
  5. (in Romanian) "Gabriela Vrânceanu Firea,prezentatoare TV: 'Prefer să fiu invidiată decât compătimită'", Adevărul, 16 November 2011
  6. (in Romanian) 2012– profile at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site
  7. "GABRIELA VRANCEANU FIREA: Baiatul pe care-l iubeam m-a parasit pentru ca eram prea saraca – Marea Dragoste". Marea Dragoste (in Romanian). Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  8. "Gabriela Vrânceanu Firea: Am avut satisfacţia ca anul acesta să-mi vă…", archive.is, 5 July 2013, retrieved 4 June 2020
  9. (in Romanian) "Florentin Pandele, despre relaţia amoroasă cu Gabriela Vrânceanu Firea", Adevărul, 6 September 2010
  10. (in Romanian) "Senatoarea PSD Gabriela Firea a născut cel de-al treilea băieţel", Mediafax, 5 May 2015
  11. "GABRIELA VRANCEANU FIREA: Baiatul pe care-l iubeam m-a parasit pentru ca eram prea saraca – Marea Dragoste", Revista Tango, retrieved 4 June 2020
  12. "Gabriela Vrinceanu-Firea, Editor-Prezentator la TV Antena 1, Romania", Romania-on-line.net, retrieved 4 June 2020
  13. R. M. (14 August 2008), "Intact a incetat colaborarea cu Mihai Craiu, Tuca si Firea preiau functiile acestuia – Media & Publicitate", HotNews.ro, retrieved 4 June 2020
  14. "Gabriela Vranceanu Firea", Ziare.com, 4 June 2020, retrieved 4 June 2020
  15. C. Ionescu (14 July 2009), "Gabriela Vranceanu Firea: "Etapa mea de stirist s-a incheiat" – Media & Publicitate", HotNews.ro, retrieved 4 June 2020
  16. "Gabriela Vranceanu Firea a lansat romanul "Trei motive"", archive.is, 6 July 2013, retrieved 4 June 2020
  17. Ramona Vintila (13 July 2009), "Astăzi E ziua ta... Gabriela Vrânceanu Firea!", Antena 3, retrieved 4 June 2020
  18. "Gabriela Vrânceanu Firea şi Simona Gherghe lansează "Trandafiri de la…", archive.is, 5 July 2013, retrieved 4 June 2020
  19. "Mi-am depus candidatura pentru funcția de primar general al Capitalei…", archive.is, 28 April 2016, retrieved 10 June 2020
  20. Gabriel Pecheanu, "REZULTATE FINALE ALEGERI LOCALE 2016: Gabriela Firea a câştigat Bucureştiul cu 246.553 de voturi. Nicuşor Dan a primit 175.119 voturi", Mediafax, retrieved 10 June 2020
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