Adrian Zuckerman | |
|---|---|
 | |
| US Ambassador to Romania | |
| In office December 17, 2019 –January 20, 2021 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Hans G. Klemm |
| Succeeded by | David Muniz |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 22,1956 Bucharest,Romania |
Adrian Zuckerman (born September 22,1956) is a Romanian-born American lawyer and former diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Romania from 2019 to 2021.
Zuckerman was born in Bucharest,in the Romanian People's Republic,and is still fluent in Romanian. [1] His parents were Romanian Jews who worked as medical researchers. [2] The family emigrated from Romania when he was nine years old, [1] [3] spending nine months in Rome,Italy before arriving in New Haven,Connecticut in May 1966,when his father started work at the Yale School of Medicine. [2]
Zuckerman graduated from Hamden Hall Country Day School in 1975. [4] He earned a B.S in Life Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,a B.S in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management and his J.D. from New York Law School in June 1983. [5] [6] While at MIT,Zuckerman became a brother of the Lambda Phi Chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. [7]
Zuckerman was a real estate lawyer and partner with the New York City law firm Seyfarth Shaw. [8]
Before his tenure at Seyfarth Shaw,Zuckerman was co-head of national real estate and corporate services at Epstein Becker &Green. [1]
Between 2003 and 2007,Zuckerman was Partner,Head of Real Estate,Managing Partner of New York Office and Member of Management Committee at Lowenstein Sandler. [9] Prior to this (1994-2003),he was Partner,Head of Real Estate and Member of Management Committee at Davidoff &Malito,LLP in New York City. [9] He served as counsel at a major national real estate firm in New York City (1987 to 1994) and prior to that as a law firm associate (1984 to 1987). [9]
He also has acted as the chair of a New York City civil court judicial screening panel and as an arbitrator for the Real Estate Board of New York. [9]
Active in philanthropic and educational initiatives,Mr. Zuckerman is a member of the board of Kids Corp.,a non-profit organization that supports underprivileged children in Newark,New Jersey,and serves on the alumni board of New York Law School. [9]
On July 24,2018,President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Zuckerman to be the next United States Ambassador to Romania. [10] On November 19,2019,his nomination was confirmed by a vote of 65–30 in the Senate. [11] On December 17,2019,he presented his credentials to Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. [12] He resigned on January 20,2021.
Ambassador Zuckerman focused on a number of issues during this mandate,including fighting corruption,combating human trafficking,strengthening the rule of law and increasing reforms of state-owned businesses. [13] [14] [15] [16]
During Zuckerman's tenure in Romania,the two countries signed a 10-year “Roadmap for Defense Cooperation. [17]
Another major project during Ambassador Zuckerman's term was the signing of an agreement to finance and refurbish one nuclear reactor and build two more nuclear reactors at Cernavoda. This $8 billion project,which is financed with up to $7 billion by the United States Export Import Bank,is the largest project ever between the two countries. [18] [19]
Romania:Ambassador Zuckerman is a recipient of the Grand Cross rank of the Order of the Star of Romania. [20] This Order is Romania's highest civil Order and was presented to Zuckerman by the President of Romania,Klaus Iohannis in January 2021,as a sign of the “high appreciation for the entire activity carried out during his term in Romania,as well as for his substantial involvement in the development and deepening of the strategic partnership between Romania and the United States of America”. [20] During his confirmation hearings in June 2019,Zuckerman testified “If confirmed,I would offer continued support for Romania’s noteworthy anti-corruption efforts. Fighting corruption and supporting judicial independence are vital to the region’s long-term prosperity and security,as well as to the extraordinary law enforcement and security cooperation that exists between the United States and Romania”. [21]
In 2007,when Rudy Giuliani was seeking the Republican nomination for president,Zuckerman donated $2000 to his campaign. [1] In August 2018 Rudy Giuliani “appeared to contradict the U.S. State Department’s existing policy position”by writing a letter,at the request of former FBI director Louis Freeh,to Romania's president “claiming Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate had crossed the line of acceptable behavior.”Giuliani “requested amnesty be granted to various people prosecuted in Romania,shortly after the State Department urged Romania to continue its ‘considerable progress in combating corruption and building effective rule of law.’” [8] This line has been contradicted in all the speeches and public appearances of Ambassador Zuckerman,further showing that the Giuliani signed letter was a private endeavor of Mr Giuliani,not supported by the State Department or by Mr. Zuckerman.
For example,in a speech in October 2020,Ambassador Zuckerman said the following about the Rule of Law,anti-corruption and building a better Romania:"The rule of law is paramount to freedom and democracy. We cannot backslide on the advances made in Romania to restore respect for the rule of law in the last year. The corruption found in the prior government,which resulted in the relaxation of anti-crime laws just to help former PSD leader Dragnea avoid jail will not be countenanced. Those who participated and assisted in depriving the Romanian people of the rule of law and engaged in corrupt conduct will not have our support". [22]
Adrian Zuckerman is also a member of one of Donald Trump’s golf clubs. [23]
In 2022,Romanian film producer and businessman Bobby Păunescu presented Mr Zuckerman as the international legal representative to a new development in Cluj Napoca which was never completed. He later denied any involvement with the project. [24]
In November 2024,Elena Lasconi,leader of USR party and candidate in the upcoming presidential elections accused Zuckerman of pressure to withdraw her campaign in favour of her opponent,Nicolae Ciucă. [25] [26] [24] Zukerman denied the allegations. [27]
Klaus Werner Iohannis,German:Klaus Werner Johannis is a Romanian politician,physicist,and former physics teacher who has been serving as the sixth president of Romania since 2014.
Sorin Dan Mihalache is a Romanian politician and former Member of the European Parliament. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party,part of the Party of European Socialists,became an MEP on 1 January 2007 with the accession of Romania to the European Union and he serves as the Ambassador of Romania to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland since 8 June 2016. He started his career as a journalist after graduating from Bucharest University Law School.
Presidential elections were held in Romania in 2014. They were the seventh presidential elections held in post-1989 Romania. In the first round of the elections on 2 November,the top two of the fourteen candidates qualified in a run-off on 16 November. These candidates were Victor Ponta,former Prime Minister and ex-leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) who won around 40% of the vote in the first round,and Klaus Iohannis,then mayor of Sibiu and leader of the Christian Liberal Alliance (ACL),who won around 30% in the first round respectively. Following large protests on how Ponta's government organized the elections in the diaspora,Klaus Iohannis staged a surprising come-back and won the run-off with 54.5%,or more than a million votes than his contender.
The 2012–2015 unrest in Romania refers to a prolonged period of civil unrest and political scandals in Romania,which took magnitude after the second half of the 2000s. The wave of civil demonstrations started in January 2012,once with the introduction of a new health reform legislation. The protests were fueled by the austerity measures applied in May 2010,but also by the unpopularity of Băsescu-backed Boc government. The demonstrations were characterized by widespread rioting and acts of vandalism. The political situation precipitated,so Prime Minister Emil Boc decided to step down on 6 February 2012.
There were numerous protests against the Romanian Government between 2017 and 2019. In January 2017,days after the government of the Grindeanu Cabinet was sworn into office in Romania,protests took place throughout the country against ordinance bills that were proposed by the Romanian Ministry of Justice regarding the pardoning of certain committed crimes,and the amendment of the Penal Code of Romania. At the heart of these protests is the community Corruption Kills,founded by Florin Bădiță,who alongside other civic groups organized what proved to be the largest protests since 1989,thus realizing the "Revolution of our generation".
The following lists events in the year 2017 in Romania.
Presidential elections were held in Romania on 10 November 2019,with a second round held on 24 November 2019. They were the eighth presidential elections held in post-1989 Romania. Incumbent President of Romania Klaus Iohannis,first elected in 2014,was eligible for re-election. He subsequently defeated former Prime Minister and ex-leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Viorica Dăncilăin the second round of the election by a landslide,receiving 66% of the vote –the second-highest vote share on record in this type of elections after Ion Iliescu.
Events from the year 2018 in Romania.
Nineta Bărbulescu is a Romanian career diplomat,and current Ambassador of Romania to Malaysia and (non-resident) Brunei. She served as the Romanian Ambassador to Australia from August 2013 until December 2020. During these 7 years she also was accredited non-resident Ambassador to New Zealand (2015–2020),Fiji (2018–2020),Independent State of Samoa (2018–2020),Solomon Islands (2018–2020),Vanuatu (2018–2020),Kiribati (2018–2020),Tuvalu (2019–2020),and Nauru (2019–2020).
Florin Vasile Cîțu is a Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania between December 2020 and November 2021. Sometimes labeled as Romania's first libertarian Prime Minister,he was also the leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL) between September 2021 and April 2022.
Nicolae Ionel Ciucă is a Romanian politician and retired general of the Romanian Land Forces who is serving as the president of the Senate of Romania. Ideologically a conservative,he served as Prime Minister of Romania between 25 November 2021 and 12 June 2023 after receiving widespread parliamentary support on behalf of his own party,the National Liberal Party (PNL) along with the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ). Since 10 April 2022,he has also been serving as the president of the National Liberal Party (PNL). On 12 June 2023,he resigned as prime minister,as part of a deal with his coalition partner,the PSD,to switch places with Marcel Ciolacu,and was temporarily replaced by Cătălin Predoiu.
Events from the year 2021 in Romania.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Romania on 1 December 2024.
Presidential elections were held in Romania on 24 November 2024. A second round will be held on 8 December 2024,as no candidate achieved an absolute majority in the first round. They will be the ninth presidential elections held in post-revolution Romania. As the Romanian Constitution allows a president to be re-elected only once,the incumbent,Klaus Iohannis,first elected in 2014 and then re-elected in 2019,is not eligible for re-election. His second term will formally end in December 2024.
Events from the year 2022 in Romania.
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Events from the year 2023 in Romania.
The Embassy of the United States in Bucharest is the diplomatic mission of the United States of America in Romania.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)| Diplomatic Agent (1880–81) | |
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| Chargé d'Affaires (1881–1882) | |
| Minister Resident (1882–1892) | |
| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary (1892–1965) | |
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (1965–present) |
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