Born in Arad,[1] he was a gifted high school student in chemistry who in 1988 fled Communist Romania for France.[2] There,he studied chemistry at the University of Strasbourg,graduating in 1994 and obtaining a doctorate from the same institution in 1999.[3]
Early life and education
Daniel P. Funeriu (Petru-Daniel Funeriu) was born on April 11,1971 in Arad,his parents being teachers in Birchiș. His father is the philologist Ionel Funeriu,and his mother Maria Funeriu,also a Romanian language teacher. He has a sister. He spent the first years of his life with his parents and maternal grandfather in Săvârșin,and at the age of 2 the family moved to Timișoara,his father becoming a researcher at the Romanian Academy,and his mother an assistant professor at the University of Timișoara. His father is a reputed philologist,his major work being a fundamental revision of the theory of Romanian versification. In 1981 he published "Romanian Versification,a Linguistic Perspective". Using the principles enunciated in his theory on versification,Ionel Funeriu discovered and corrected hundreds of errors in the editing of Alexandru Macedonski's poetry,a discovery that gave rise to a controversy with Macedonski's publisher,Adrian Marino.[4]
Daniel P. Funeriu's maternal grandparents are originally from Podu Turcului,Bacău County,and his paternal grandparents are peasant householders from Pâncota,Arad County. His paternal grandfather fought at Stalingrad,where he was wounded. Funeriu often talks about the folk wisdom acquired from his grandparents.
In 1976 he lost his mother and lived,until 1978 with his grandfather in Săvârșin,where he started school in the vicinity of the Royal Castle in Săvârșin,being a classmate of Cristian Herbei,one of the heroes of the 1989 Revolution,killed in Otopeni. In the second grade,he moved to Timișoara to the special gymnastics class of the General School no. 18 where,in a parallel class,Igor Bergler,who became a very successful author,was studying. He practices gymnastics,athletics and football and was a good student in science. In the eighth grade,he qualified for the first time to the National Chemistry Olympiad,where he met and was inspired by several young people who would later become great researchers,such as:Adrian Șalic,now a professor at Harvard Medical School,Mihai Bărboiu,Traian Sulea,DragoșHorvat. Funeriu would say about them that they were compasses worth following.[4]
In 1985 he succeded with an average of 9.75,entrance to the very selective High School of Philology and History (now the Banat College),the chemistry-biology class,where he continued his passion for chemistry. In 1988,in the eleventh grade,he won the silver medal at the Balkan Chemistry Olympiad in Sofia,Bulgaria. In the summer of 1988,taking advantage of a trip to France,he did not return to communist Romania and settled in Strasbourg,where he was admitted to the Lycée International des Pontonniers. Being under 18 years old and without parents or resources,he received support,at the beginning of his stay on France,from the social protection system. A few months after arriving in France,he won the second prize of the French Chemistry Olympiad. Thanks to the Olympiad prize,on the recommendation of Professor Jean-Marie Lehn,a recent Nobel laureate (1987),he received a scholarship from a local bank,which allowed him,together with the financial prize from the Olympiad and various temporary jobs (bartender,waiter,tutoring and laboratory),to continue his studies after the baccalaureate obtained in the summer of 1989. He attended the elite Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes Ecoles course at the Kléber high school in Strasbourg,and in 1991 he entered the European Higher Institute of Chemistry of Strasbourg and became,in 1992,a laboratory worker in Professor Lehn's laboratory,where he developed his first research project. After graduating as a chemical engineer in 1994 and a short period at Merck and co (USA),in 1995 he completed his studies as valedictorian. He obtains the "Diplôme d'Études Approfondies" in organic and supramolecular chemistry at the Universitéde Strasbourg and begins his doctorate in Professor Lehn's laboratory.[4]
After completing his doctorate in 1999,obtained with the highest distinction "Très honorable avec félicitations",he worked for a period as a postdoctoral researcher at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla,California and,since 2002,as a researcher at the National Institute of Advanced Science and Engineering in Amagasaki,Japan. In 2006,he received an offer to lead a research group at the Max Plank Institute for Molecular Physiology in Dortmund and,at the same time,won a Marie Curie Excellence grant of two million euros. He chooses the Technical University of Munich (TUM),where he was part of the team that conceived the university's candidacy for the German government's newly launched ””Exzellenzinitiative””. Together with the team of rector Wolfgang Herrmann,he supported the university's candidacy that is declared the winner,which brought over 45 million euros to the university. See also German_Universities_Excellence_Initiative.
Private life
Daniel P. Funeriu is married to Sandra Funeriu,a French citizen,whom he met at a party in Strasbourg in 1994 and has two children.
He attracted the attention of the Romanian press and,in 2007 he became vice-president of the Presidential Commission for the analysis and elaboration of policies in the fields of education,appointed by President Traian Basescu.[5] He was invited to run in the European Parliament elections on behalf of the Liberal Democratic Party and,in January 2009,he became an MEP in the European People's Party group.[6] His mandate in the European Parliament coincides with the movement for democratic changes in the Republic of Moldova and he initiated for the first time in the plenary session of the European Parliament the request for the right of Moldovan citizens to travel freely in the European Union.[7]
Daniel Funeriu,official photo,2011
Disgraced by the party because of his reformist positions,he did not receive an eligible seat for the 2009 European Parliament elections. He was appointed Minister of Education,Research,Youth and Sports in the Croitoru government,which was rejected by Parliament.[8] In the hearings of the specialized commission,obviously hostile,Funeriu refused to present his program sitting on the chair and spoke standing,[9] saying that "even when I am rejected for political reasons,I remain straight".[10] He participated in President Băsescu's campaign in 2009,and became minister of education,research,youth and sports with the support of President Băsescu,Mircea Miclea,and the academic world. As minister,he initiated a series of major changes,especially those aimed at the moral reform of society (by stopping exam fraud and the first anti-plagiarism campaign). In 2010,against the background of the threats of strike caused by the period of major economic crisis,he manages to end the school year without a single day of national strike and signs the Education Law 1/2011 which puts into practice the modernization processes designed by Professor Mircea Miclea. This law was highly praised by the European Commission.[11]
In 2012,with the resignation of the Boc Government,Funeriu was appointed presidential advisor for education and research.
In 2013 he founded the People's Movement Foundation,which was at the origin of the People's Movement Party,and in 2014,amid the cooling of the relationship with President Basescu and Elena Udrea,he counter-ran her for the presidency of the People's Movement Party,to mark his political disagreement. He did not win the internal elections and withdraws from active politics,although enjoying significant media visibility due to his pertinent and rasor-sharp positions on education and general political directions of the country.[4]
In 2014,following a series of checks started by himself during his ministerial position,the "Microsoft scandal" broke out,in which Funeriu was declared innocent by prosecutors after 3 years of checks in the criminal prosecution procedure. In 2014,the National Anticorruption Directorate started the criminal prosecution of a batch of 9 ministers. Funeriu was verified regarding the signing of a contract for the purchase of licenses that was detrimental to the state (in reality Funeriu did not participate in the signing of any contract),that he would have ordered too many licenses (in reality Funeriu started controls to verify the use of the purchased licenses) and that he would have influenced the Minister of Communications Valerian Vreme to participate in the acquisition of licenses,who denied that he had discussed this matter with Funeriu. Funeriu is the only one in the batch of 9 ministers removed from criminal prosecution for not committing any criminal act. The others were either convicted (Gabriel Sandu),acquitted (Valerian Vreme),or escaped by the statute of limitations of criminal acts.[4]
He returns for a short period in research collaborating with his good friend Professor Nicolas Giuseppone,and since 2017 he has been appointed High Advisor of the European Union to the Government of the Republic of Moldova,supporting the Republic of Moldova in the process of implementing the reforms necessary for accession to the European Union.
Scientific career
Daniel P. Funeriu began his research in the field of supramolecular self-assemblies based on polypyridine:he published one of the first examples of „instructed mixtures”,in which each partner in the self-assembly process "chooses" the right partner from a panoply of possible chemically similar partners. In 1995 he discovered a method of obtaining perfectly organized molecules of unusually large size –similar to the size of proteins –through a process he called "multiple subroutine self-assembly",[12] greatly expanding the field of supramolecular chemistry. He contributed,in collaboration with Ivan Huc,to the beginning of the field of dynamic combinatorial chemistry,[13] after which,at Scripps,he developed a method of self-assembly of peptides based on the sterically directed hydrophobic interaction of phenylalanine residues.[14] In Japan and then in Germany,in collaboration with Jorg Eppinger and Masato Myiake,he developed enzymatic microchips,[15][16] succeeding for the first time in measuring in parallel the activity of a set of enzymes immobilized on functionalized glass microchips. He has also developed chemical methods for immobilizing non-adherent cells on solid substrates[17] and has participated in research that has identified twinfyllin-2 as an essential gene in the growth of neurites in SH-SY5Y cells.[18] To expand the scope of enzymatic microchips,he and his team developed molecules that allow probing the activity of enzymes,such as enzymes from the SENP family.[19] Subsequently,he participated in the development of applications of molecular engines developed in the laboratory of Professor Nicolas Giuseppone[20] and conducted research at the University of Bucharest to improve the industrial production of a vitamin B1 derivative.[21] In addition to academic research,Funeriu participated in the team that optimized the synthesis of finasteride by Merck and co. Daniel P. Funeriu was the mentor of successful chemists,including Mihaela Matache,associate professor at the University of Bucharest,Niculina Hădade,professor at Babeș-Bolyai University,Doru Roiban,Cristian Dobrotăand participated in the revival of organic chemistry in Romania.
Political and community activity
Funeriu successively held the position of Member of the European Parliament,Minister of Education,Research,Youth and Sport and Presidential Advisor with the rank of Minister. In his short term in the European Parliament,he focused on supporting the Republic of Moldova,and in his term as Minister of Education,Research,Youth and Sports,he was at the origin of major changes. He initiated the campaign to combat exam fraud,[22] for example by video monitoring of baccalaureate exams in 2011,when the success rate suddenly dropped to 43%,which,indirectly,led to the quasi-bankruptcy of many „diploma-mill”universities,which took advantage of the large number of fraudulent baccalaureate graduates. The number of students at „diploma-mill”universities has decreased,following Funeriu's mandate,from over 600,000 in 2010,to less than 60,000 today. Funeriu says that thanks to these measures,"educational mafiosi have lost hundreds of millions of euros annually."[23] Surprisingly,the political opposition,represented by PSD and PNL,triggered a strong challenge to the anti-corruption measures started,Funeriu resisting political pressure. Following the Education Law 1/2011,adopted during his mandate,Funeriu made a classification of universities into three categories (intensive research/education,research/education and education) and a hierarchy of study programs,a process followed by the allocation of money according to performance.[24] This classification was challenged in court,Funeriu winning all the lawsuits filed.[25] The press reported that Funeriu was at the origin of the discovery and publication in Nature of the evidence of plagiarism of Prime Minister Victor Ponta. Funeriu did not confirm,nor did he deny the information,but Ponta considered him the main author of the accusation of plagiarism,[26] later confirmed by CNATDCU.
Through Law 1/2011,Funeriu introduced starting with 2012,through the preparatory class,compulsory education from the age of 6 and drastic anti-plagiarism measures. Also in 2012 he established by order of the minister,[27] dual vocational education,the first school of this type in Romania being the Kronstadt school in Brașov.[28] As a whole,Law 1/2011 was highlighted by European Commissioner Dacian Ciolos,on behalf of the Barosso Commission.[29]
Funeriu introduced major reforms in research:he introduced the exclusively international evaluation of research projects and the allocation of funds according to internationally relevant performance,he built 20 new research institutes with European funds[30] and started the steps[31] to build in Romania,in Magurele,the Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics infrastructure under the scientific coordination of Nobel laureate Gérard Mourou and professor Nicolae Zamfir.
Funeriu in Chișinău,February 2024
Starting 2017 Daniel P. Funeriu works within a mission (with diplomatic status) of the European Union (EU High Level Advisors Mission) aimed at assisting the Republic of Moldova in its road to European Union integration. In this capacity,the mission greatly contributed to major reforms in various fields,including education as well as the support of the Republic of Moldova during COVID-19 crisis and the crisis due to the Russian aggression in Ukraine. In a recent referendum,the citizens of the Republic of Moldova chose to integrate in the Moldovan Constitution the EU-accession pathway. Also,recent presidential elections were won by the pro-EU president,Maia Sandu (to which Funeriu is considered by the press to be closely connected[32]) by a comfortable margin. Daniel P. Funeriu recently announced his intentions to be a candidate for the Romanian presidential elections.
In 2024,Daniel P. Funeriu organized in Resita one of the few elite mathematics camps in Europe,[33] APEXMATHS (Academic Program of Excellence in Mathematics) in which 50 very high-level students from the USA,Canada,South Korea,France,Italy,Israel,Moldova,Ukraine,Romania participated. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology mentions APEXMATHS among the few elite camps validated by them,[34] and in 2025 two APEXMATHS (Resita and Timișoara) and APEXCHEMISTRY (Bucharest) will be organized.
Controversies
During his mandate as Minister of Education,Research,Youth and Sports,Daniel P. Funeriu was one of the most attacked members of the government by the PSD-PNL alliance,but also from within the majority party in the ruling coalition (PDL). His reforms,especially those related to the elimination of baccalaureate fraud and plagiarism,have produced major societal shocks that have been used politically by the PSD-PNL opposition. His measures produced huge financial losses to corrupt structures in education. Known for his abrasive,clear,direct and unsparing language,Funeriu had clear positions against major political figures,including Klaus Iohannis (whom he supported until he found that the education reform proposed by Iohannis was a failure),Victor Ponta,Mircea Geoana,Elena Lasconi,but also against the part of the ROC that would be "infiltrated with people in Soviet pay,majority in Moldova and Oltenia",a statement that produced a vigorous controversy with the Prime Minister at the time,Victor Ponta.
Following the news that mentioned the praise brought to Funeriu by the European Commission,the leaders of the PSD-PNL alliance,Victor Ponta and Crin Antonescu,requested the confirmation of the veracity of this news from the European Commission. The European Commission confirmed,which put the two leaders in an embarrassing position.
In a report,Antena 3 claimed to be in possession of a document proving that Funeriu did not obtain the baccalaureate in France in 1988. Funeriu proved that that alleged document was in fact the list of 2011 graduates from Alsace in which,by electronic means,his name was inserted. In reality Funeriu obtained his baccalaureate just 9 months after arriving in France,with good enough school results to be admitted to the very selective course of "Classes Prépa". In fact,Funeriu,in the twelfth grade in France,also won the second prize of the French Chemistry Olympiad.[35]
Funeriu also suffered numerous personal attacks,being labelled as "arrogant" because of his trenchant and clear style of expressing the reforms he undertook.[36]
Political positions
Daniel Funeriu is a self-declared ordoliberal[4] with positions that have gradually become moderately conservative. The progressive side of the political spectrum considers Funeriu too conservative,especially for his discourse favorable to Christian values. The extreme nationalist and ultraconservative part of the political spectrum accuses Funeriu of being too progressive because he supported vaccination campaigns against cervical cancer. Funeriu has declared his strong support for NATO-driven defense policies,including increase of military budget to 3.5% of the GDP. A convinced and militant pro-European,Funeriu denounced the woke-type excesses of some representatives of the European Commission and the lack of firmness against illegal migration,following the line drawn by the founding fathers of the European Union and opposing measures that extend the influence of "Brussels officials" beyond the powers conferred by the Treaty of the European Union. Funeriu campaigned for the affirmation of Romania's voice in the context of the European Union and for a more assertive foreign policy aligned with strategic allies such as the United Kingdom and the United States. His foreign policy vision is to increase Romania presence in NATO and EU,to establish Romania as a reliable and trustworthy peace-broker and to extend Romania’s diplomatic reach,in particular in areas where Romania is under-represented,such as Asia,Africa and South America.
Daniel Funeriu at Dilema magazine Conference in 2019
Lately,Funeriu has become a respected and firm voice on issues related to education,state reforms,drawing attention to the danger of populism and social fragmentation,militating for social cohesion and gathering the nation around traditional values. He has warned on multiple occasions about the danger of the growth of extremist parties,being an advocate of moderation and social cohesion.
↑ Lerner, Richard A.; Neri, Dario (June 2020). "Reflections on DNA-encoded chemical libraries". Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 527 (3): 757–759. doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.04.080. PMID32439178.
↑ Eppinger, Jörg; Funeriu, Daniel P.; Miyake, Masato; Denizot, Lucile; Miyake, Jun (19 July 2004). "Enzyme Microarrays: On-Chip Determination of Inhibition Constants Based on Affinity-Label Detection of Enzymatic Activity". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 43 (29): 3806–3810. doi:10.1002/anie.200353623. PMID15258942.[non-primary source needed]
↑ Funeriu, Daniel P; Eppinger, Jörg; Denizot, Lucile; Miyake, Masato; Miyake, Jun (May 2005). "Enzyme family–specific and activity-based screening of chemical libraries using enzyme microarrays". Nature Biotechnology. 23 (5): 622–627. doi:10.1038/nbt1090. PMID15821728.[non-primary source needed]
↑ Kato, Koichi; Umezawa, Kohei; Funeriu, Daniel P.; Miyake, Masato; Miyake, Jun; Nagamune, Teruyuki (November 2003). "Immobilized culture of nonadherent cells on an oleyl poly(ethylene glycol) ether-modified surface". BioTechniques. 35 (5): 1014–1021. doi:10.2144/03355rr01. PMID14628675.[non-primary source needed]
↑ Yamada, Shigeru; Uchimura, Eiichiro; Ueda, Takanori; Nomura, Takashi; Fujita, Satoshi; Matsumoto, Kayo; Funeriu, Daniel P.; Miyake, Masato; Miyake, Jun (November 2007). "Identification of twinfilin-2 as a factor involved in neurite outgrowth by RNAi-based screen". Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 363 (4): 926–930. doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2007.09.069. PMID17910947.[non-primary source needed]
↑ Dobrotă, Cristian; Fasci, Domenico; Hădade, Niculina D.; Roiban, Gheorghe-Doru; Pop, Cristina; Meier, Veronika M.; Dumitru, Ioana; Matache, Mihaela; Salvesen, Guy S.; Funeriu, Daniel P. (2 January 2012). "Glycine Fluoromethylketones as SENP-Specific Activity Based Probes". ChemBioChem. 13 (1): 80–84. doi:10.1002/cbic.201100645. PMID22134988.[non-primary source needed]
↑ Foy, Justin T.; Li, Quan; Goujon, Antoine; Colard-Itté, Jean-Rémy; Fuks, Gad; Moulin, Emilie; Schiffmann, Olivier; Dattler, Damien; Funeriu, Daniel P.; Giuseppone, Nicolas (June 2017). "Dual-light control of nanomachines that integrate motor and modulator subunits". Nature Nanotechnology. 12 (6): 540–545. Bibcode:2017NatNa..12..540F. doi:10.1038/nnano.2017.28. PMID28319615.[non-primary source needed]
↑ Hanganu, Anamaria; Maximov, Maxim; Maximov, Oana-Cristina; Popescu, Codruta C.; Sandu, Nicoleta; Florea, Mihaela; Mirea, Anca G.; Gârbea, Cristian; Matache, Mihaela; Funeriu, Daniel P. (15 November 2024). "Insights into Large-Scale Synthesis of Benfotiamine". Organic Process Research & Development. 28 (11): 4069–4078. doi:10.1021/acs.oprd.4c00351.[non-primary source needed]
Romania's political framework is a semi-presidential representative republic where the Prime Minister is the head of government while the President, according to the Constitution, has at least in theory a more symbolic role, is responsible for the foreign policy, signs certain decrees, approves laws promulgated by the parliament, and nominates the head of government. Romania has multi-party system with a dominant two-party system, with legislative power vested in the government and the two chambers of the Parliament, more specifically the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature in theory. From 1948 until 1989, the communist rule political structure took place in the framework of a one-party socialist republic governed by the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) as its only legal party.
The Social Democratic Party is the largest political party in Romania. It is also the largest social democratic political party in the country. It was founded by Ion Iliescu, Romania's first democratically elected president at the 1990 Romanian general election. It is currently part of the National Coalition for Romania (CNR), which is a big tent grand coalition comprising also the National Liberal Party (PNL). The CNR formerly included the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ) until mid June 2023.
Dan Mircea Geoană is a Romanian politician and diplomat, who served as the deputy secretary general of NATO between 2019 and 2024. He previously served as president of the Senate of Romania from December 2008 until he was revoked in November 2011. From April 2005 until February 2010, he was the head of the Social Democratic Party.
Traian Băsescu is a Romanian conservative politician who served as the fourth president of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, and as Mayor of Bucharest from 2000 to 2004. Additionally, he was elected as leader of the Democratic Party (PD) in 2001.
Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 29 December 2004 to 22 December 2008. He was also president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the vice-president of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR), two positions he assumed in 2004.
Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu is a Romanian historian, politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania in 2012. He was the foreign minister of Romania from 28 December 2004 to 12 March 2007, and he was appointed as Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service later in 2007. Following the resignation of the Emil Boc government he was appointed prime minister serving through April 2012 when his cabinet was dismissed following a parliamentary vote of no-confidence. He was confirmed by the Parliament for a second term as Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, after President Klaus Iohannis nominated him in June 2015 but he resigned in September 2016, citing health issues.
Klaus Werner Iohannis is a Romanian politician, physicist, and former physics teacher who has been serving as the fifth president of Romania from 2014.
Presidential elections were held in Romania in 2009. They were the sixth presidential elections held in post-1989 Romania. The first round took place on 22 November, with a run-off round between the top two candidates Traian Băsescu and Mircea Geoană on 6 December 2009. Although most exit polls suggested a victory for Geoană in the runoff, the authorities declared Băsescu the narrow winner with 50.33% of the votes. To date, it is the closest presidential election in the political history of Romania.
Teodor Viorel Meleșcanu is a Romanian politician, diplomat, and jurist. He served as Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Romania (SIE) between 2012 and 2014. He was a three times senator on behalf of the National Liberal Party (PNL), Minister of Defense between 2007 and 2008, and Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1992 and 1996, in November 2014 and since January 2017 to July 2019. On 27 February 2012, upon his appointment as head of the SIE, he suspended himself from PNL and was later expelled from the party. On 10 September 2019, he was elected President of the Senate. He resigned from office on 3 February 2020.
Radu Stroe is a Romanian navigational engineer and politician. An independent, he was formerly a member of the National Liberal Party (PNL). He was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Maramureș County from 2000 to 2004, and sat in the Romanian Senate from 2004 to 2008, representing the same county. He returned to the Chamber in 2010, representing Bucharest, and started a new term in 2012, sitting for Ilfov County. In the Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu cabinet, he was Minister Delegate for the General Secretariat of the Government from 2006 to 2007. In Victor Ponta's first cabinet, he was Minister Delegate for Administration between August and December 2012, when he was promoted to Interior Minister. He resigned that post in January 2014.
Victor Viorel Ponta is a Romanian politician and jurist who served as Prime Minister of Romania from 2012 to 2015. He was president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) from 2010 to 2015, and joint leader (2012–2014) of the then-governing Social Liberal Union (USL), an alliance with the National Liberal Party (PNL). Ponta was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Gorj County from 2004 to 2020, and was returned to a Dâmbovița County seat in 2024.
Ecaterina Andronescu is a Romanian engineer, professor, and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), she sat in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies from 1996 to 2008, representing Bucharest, and was a Senator from 2008 until 2020, for the same city. In the Adrian Năstase cabinet, she was Education Minister from 2000 until June 2003. She held the same position in the cabinet of Emil Boc from 2008 to 2009, in the Victor Ponta cabinet during 2012, and finally in the Viorica Dăncilă cabinet for under 9 months between November 2018 and August 2019. She is married and has one child.
The 2012 Romanian protests were a series of protests and civil manifestations triggered by the introduction of new health reform legislation. In particular, President Traian Băsescu criticized the Deputy Minister of Health, Raed Arafat, on a Romanian television broadcast. The protests became violent, with both protesters and members of the Gendarmerie sustaining injuries during their clashes.
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 Romanian constitutional crisis was a major political and constitutional conflict between President Traian Băsescu and Prime Minister Victor Ponta of Romania. A dispute arose between the two regarding the representation of Romania to the European Council reunion of June 28, 2012. The dispute degenerated in civil disobedience and conflicting views between political parties. On 12 December 2012, Băsescu and Ponta signed an agreement on institutional cohabitation, effectively ending the crisis.
Ponta II Cabinet was the Council of Ministers which governed Romania from 21 December 2012 to 5 March 2014. A crisis inside the ruling coalition, the Social Liberal Union (USL), resulted in the split of the governing alliance and collapse of the government.
The People's Movement Party is an extra-parliamentary national-conservative and social conservative political party in Romania.
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.
The Fourth Ponta Cabinet was the government of Romania from 17 December 2014 to 17 November 2015. The Cabinet was supported by the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), the alliance forged by Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu's Liberal Reformist Party (PLR) and Daniel Constantin's Conservative Party (PC). Fourteen of the ministerial portfolios were held by PSD members, three by ALDE, two by UNPR and two by independent members.
Sorin Mihai Cîmpeanu is a Romanian politician who served as Minister of Education in Ciucă Cabinet. He had previously held the same position in Ponta IV and Cîțu cabinets, and, between 5 and 17 November 2015, acted as Prime Minister of Romania, after President Klaus Iohannis accepted Prime Minister Ponta's resignation. Klaus Iohannis's appointment of Sorin Cîmpeanu was just a stopgap measure until a new candidate for the post was selected.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Romania 
France 
