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Marcel Ciolacu

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Marcel Ciolacu
File:Marcel Ciolacu June 2022.jpg
Ciolacu in 2022
Prime Minister of Romania
Incumbent
Assumed office
15 June 2023
PresidentKlaus Iohannis
DeputyMarian Neacșu
Cătălin Predoiu
Preceded byNicolae Ciucă
President of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
23 November 2021 – 15 June 2023
PresidentKlaus Iohannis
Preceded bySorin Grindeanu (acting)
Succeeded byAlfred Simonis (acting)
In office
27 May 2019 – 19 December 2020
Preceded byLiviu Dragnea
Succeeded byLudovic Orban
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
Incumbent
Assumed office
26 November 2019
Preceded byViorica Dăncilă
Deputy Prime Minister of Romania
In office
29 June 2017 – 29 January 2018
PresidentKlaus Iohannis
Prime Minister
Preceded byAugustin Jianu
Succeeded byViorel Ștefan
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
Incumbent
Assumed office
19 December 2012
ConstituencyBuzău County
Personal details
Born
Ion-Marcel Ciolacu

(1967-11-28) 28 November 1967 (age 56)[1]
Buzău, Buzău County, Socialist Republic of Romania
Political partySocial Democratic Party (PSD)
SpouseRoxana Ciolacu
Alma materEcological University of Bucharest

Ion-Marcel Ciolacu (born 28 November 1967) is a Romanian politician who currently serves as the Prime Minister of Romania. He is also the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD).

As a previously little known politician outside of Buzău County, Ciolacu came into national prominence when he became the deputy prime minister in 2018 in the cabinet of Prime Minister Mihai Tudose. Allegedly, he was given this office in order to report Tudose's activities to Liviu Dragnea, who had been unable to become prime minister himself and was wary of Tudose becoming a power player in the party.[2] Ciolacu soon broke with Dragnea and became an ally of Tudose against Dragnea's leadership. After Tudose's resignation,[3] Ciolacu was marginalized within PSD but still retained the leadership of PSD Buzău.[4] Ciolacu once more returned to prominence in 2019 after Liviu Dragnea had been convicted on abuse of office and incitement to intellectual forgery charges, having to serve a 3 years, 6 months sentence.[5] With the Social Democrats still controlling a majority both in the Chamber and in the Senate, Ciolacu won the position of the President of the Chamber of Deputies, with 172 votes for and 120 against,[4] previously held by Dragnea himself.

Following new PSD leader Viorica Dăncilă overwhelming defeat in the 2019 Romanian presidential election, on 26 November 2019, Ciolacu was named leader of the party, firstly ad-interim,[6] until he was confirmed to hold the position by the party congress the next year on 22 August 2020 with an overwhelming 1310–91 margin against his opponent.[7] Ciolacu led the party to victory in the 2020 Romanian legislative election but was not able to form a majority coalition in the new legislative. Other parties opposed to the PSD formed a new coalition on 23 December and formed the new government, thus pushing Ciolacu's PSD in opposition. However, in 2021, following the political crisis that led to the collapse of the Cîțu Cabinet, he managed to bring the PSD back to the government, forming a cabinet with its former rival, the National Liberal Party, thus forming the National Coalition for Romania.[8]

Early life and education

Marcel Ciolacu was born in Buzău as the son of Ion Ciolacu, a career military pilot. He claims that he applied for law school after graduating high school in 1986, but didn't get admitted. Between 1988-1990 he worked at the Bucharest Electrotechnic Industries. He took part in the 1989 revolution in Buzău.In the early 90s he went into business, one of his first businesses being an import-export firm that mainly operated to and from Israel.In 1995 he finished law studies at the Ecological University of Bucharest,[4], a private university, which was authorized in May 1995, however he only took his license exam in 2004,9 years after finishing his studies.[9]In 2008 he attended a program in Security and National Defence at the National College of Defence in Bucharest, a controversial university, regarded by some Romanian publications as a "diploma-factory".[10] In 2012 he completed a master's programme in the Management of the Public Sector at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration.[4]

Political career

Early Political Activity

Marcel Ciolacu has participated in the 1989 Romanian Revolution in Buzău.[11][12][13][14] He has become a member of the National Salvation Front in 1990. During the early nineties, Ciolacu climbed the steps in local politics and by 1996 he became the second-in-command of the Youth Organization of the party. Senator Ion Vasile became the godfather of his child. He remained little known, however, until the mid-2000s. In 2005 he was for several months the interim prefect of Buzau, after which he became, in turn, director of Urbis Serv and deputy mayor of Buzau (2008–2012),[4] while Constantin Boșcodeală was mayor of Buzau (1996–2016). Boșcodeală was later convicted in 2015 for abuse of office during the period 2002–2008, by diverting public funds to a football team and other private companies of which he was a shareholder.[4][15]

Ciolacu entered national politics in 2012 when he was first elected for a deputy seat in Parliament. In 2015 he was elected PSD president for Buzău County, replacing Boșcodeală who stepped down while being investigated. Ciolacu's election was controversial. He ran against Senator Vasile Ion, who eventually withdrew from the race, accusing Ciolacu of rigging the internal elections.[16] Ciolacu was re-elected to Parliament in 2016.

As Deputy Prime Minister

In 2017, Ciolacu was named deputy prime minister in the cabinet led by Mihai Tudose.[17] Tudose's predecessor, Sorin Grindeanu was ousted[18] from his position by a vote of no-confidence initiated by PSD itself, then under leadership of Liviu Dragnea. [19] Grindeanu's departure did not leave Dragnea's power unquestioned. Previously, the government had held a 295 majority, now it was reduced to a mere 241.[citation needed] For the first time, Dragnea was facing strong dissent in the party at the prospect that President Klaus Iohannis would not name another PSD member to become prime minister, electing instead to force early elections. Since the procedure of calling early elections laid down in the Constitution of Romania is complicated and difficult to trigger, and seeing PSD still had the necessary majority to form another government, the president decided to name Mihai Tudose, Dragnea's newest proposal as prime minister. Tudose was not, however, Dragnea's first choice and the PSD leader needed to find ways to control him better than Grindeanu, who had shown him that the office of prime minister was strong enough to allow its holder to wrestle his power in the party away from him. For this reason, Ciolacu was named deputy prime minister in the Tudose Cabinet, in order to become Dragnea's ears in the government.[citation needed]

Like Tudose himself and Grindeanu before him, however, Ciolacu did not stay loyal to Dragnea for long. By the autumn of 2017, Ciolacu had entered Tudose's grasp and was now fully loyal to the prime minister. The relationship between Tudose and Dragnea started deteriorating rapidly, as had been the case with Grindeanu, but the two maintained publicly that there was no strain between them. By then, Ciolacu was firmly in the Tudose camp.

Tudose soon declared publicly that there was only one person whom he would not tolerate being removed from his cabinet: Ciolacu. In January 2018, Tudose attempted to take full control of his government by asking the resignation of his Interior minister, Carmen Dan,[20] a Dragnea mouthpiece and loyal lieutenant. As it became quite apparent that this was another power struggle between the prime minister and the leader of the PSD, Ciolacu publicly positioned himself in the Tudose camp. Dragnea once again convened a special party meeting in order to force Tudose's resignation. Seeing that a majority of the party remained loyal to Dragnea, Tudose decided to resign[21] to evade a motion of no confidence like his predecessor. Ciolacu handed in his own resignation from the government shortly thereafter.

First election to the Chamber presidency

After leaving the Executive, Ciolacu returned to his deputy seat in Parliament. Throughout 2018 and the first half 2019 he stayed out of the spotlight while persisting in the opposition[22] against Dragnea's leadership. In October 2018, the press reported an alleged physical altercation[23] in Parliament between Ciolacu and Dragnea, but both denied the claim.[24]

On 27 May 2019, Liviu Dragnea was convicted of abuse of power and sentenced to three years and six months in prison. This vacated his position as President of the Chamber of Deputies and his leadership position in the party. Ciolacu emerged once more in the public eye, seeking a path to top party leadership. The party's new leader, Viorica Dăncilă, the third prime minister named by Dragnea, was now looking for ways to cement her leadership of the party. For this, she sought the support of Ciolacu and other former opponents of Dragnea. Ciolacu accepted her offer to sponsor him as president of the Chamber of Deputies, succeeding Dragnea himself. On 29 May 2019, Ciolacu was voted the new head of the Chamber.[25] However, his election was won only narrowly and with the support of the PSD-breakaway party, PRO Romania, and its member, former Prime Minister Mihai Tudose.

As leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD)

As leader of the Lower Chamber, Ciolacu kept a reserved and non-vocal stance. In October 2019, a motion of no confidence was initiated by the PNL-led opposition that successfully removed Dăncilă from power, even though Ciolacu maintained that the Dăncilă Cabinet would not fall. He supported Viorica Dăncilă's bid to the presidency of Romania but after her defeat and her historically weak result, Ciolacu went on to take control of the party.

EU Commissioner for equality Helena Dalli (left) is greeted by Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă (right) at the gala event "Women in economy – Day by Day heroes" in Bucharest, 6 March 2023. Marcel Ciolacu can be seen in the background.

On 25 November 2019, one day after the presidential election, Marcel Ciolacu personally visited Dăncilă at her home, event at which has been speculated in the Press Marcel Ciolacu asked her to resign from the party's leadership, offering her an MP seat in the next legislative election[26][27] but which has been denied by Ciolacu, Paul Stănescu and Dăncilă herself.[6]On 26 November, after a six hour long meeting of the Executive Committee of PSD,[28] Viorica Dăncilă resigns as Party Leader, with Marcel Ciolacu acting as Leader and Paul Stănescu as General Secretary following this.[6]

Ciolacu was expected to run for a full term as leader of PSD at its Congress on 29 February 2020, but the Congress was postponed to 21 March due to the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic in Romania. In early March, they announced plans to move the Congress online in light of the epidemic-related ban of gatherings of more than 1000 people.[29] Ultimately, the Congress took place on 22 August 2020 and resulted in Ciolacu's election as leader of PSD, defeating Eugen Teodorovici on an overwhelming 1310–91 margin.[7]

Prime Minister of Romania (2023–present)

Marcel Ciolacu assumed the office of Prime Minister of Romania on 15 June 2023.[30]

Controversies

Mecan Construct Investigation

In 2009, the Court of Accounts Buzau found that a construction company in the municipality of Buzau, Urbis Serv, headed by Marcel Ciolacu between 2007 and 2008, caused an approximately €1.3 million overcharge for street and sidewalk construction projects through an illegal contract with a company owned by a party colleague. The company, Mecan Construct, was owned by former PSD County Councilor Dumitru Dobrică.

Ciolacu was accused of conflict of interest causing damages to the municipality by inflating the Mecan contract by approximately 1.3 million euros.[31]

Marcel Ciolacu stated that the ruling of the Buzău Court of Accounts was challenged in court. He stated that a criminal investigation file at the National Anticorruption Directorate Ploiești, in which the allegations regarding the contract with Mecan Construct were investigated, concluded without starting criminal proceedings against him.[32]

Relationship with Omar Hayssam

Marcel Ciolacu was involved in a media scandal in May 2015 after a 20-year-old photograph of him with Omar Hayssam appeared in the press. In approximately 2005, Ciolacu and Hayssam had been attending a hunting party organized by the Buzau Forestry Directorate. In 2006, Omar Hayssam masterminded the kidnapping and holding for ransom of three Romanian journalists in Iraq, for which Hayssam was convicted in 2007 by the Bucharest Court of Appeal to 24 years, four months imprisonment.[33] In addition, there was evidence that Ciolacu appeared on a list of Hayssam's debtors: In the early 2000s, Hayssam appears to have loaned Ciolacu 200 million old lei (20,000 RON).[34] As a result of the scandal, Prime Minister Victor Ponta removed Ciolacu from the position of honorary adviser to the prime minister.

Political position

A self-proclaimed supporter of economic patriotism,[35][36][37] Ciolacu has been described as adhering to the ideology of left-wing nationalism[38][39] and social conservatism.[40]

References

  1. ^ "An unofficial biography: Who is Marcel Ciolacu, the fourth PSD premier nominated by Iohannis". actmedia.eu.
  2. ^ "Cine e Marcel Ciolacu, omul care a mazilit-o pe Dăncilă". G4Media. 26 November 2019.
  3. ^ "ULTIMA ORA Mihai Tudose si-a anuntat demisia din functia de premier – oficial". HotNewsRo. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Ilie, Adrian (27 November 2019). "Cine este Marcel Ciolacu, noul președinte interimar al PSD. Care e cel mai controversat aspect al carierei sale". Libertatea (in Romanian). Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  5. ^ Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Liviu Dragnea, condamnat definitiv la trei ani și jumătate de închisoare | DW | 27 May 2019". DW.COM (in Romanian). Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  6. ^ a b c "Breaking News. Viorica Dăncilă a demisionat de la conducerea PSD. Marcel Ciolacu, președinte interimar". Europa Liberă România (in Romanian). Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  7. ^ a b "Marcel Ciolacu, ales președinte al PSD / Eugen Teodorovici a obținut doar 91 de voturi". HotNews.ro. 22 August 2020.
  8. ^ "DOCUMENT Alianța PSD-PNL-UDMR se va numi Coaliția Națională pentru România / Ce conține acordul politic / Cum se schimbă ministerele la rotație: Justiția va reveni PSD, Finanțele, PNL – Politic – HotNews.ro". 24 November 2021.
  9. ^ "Impreciziile din explicațiile lui Marcel Ciolacu în legătură cu studiile sale, ce informații suplimentare apar în CV-ul actualizat de liderul PSD". G4 media (in Romanian).
  10. ^ "România a ajuns să fie condusă de analfabeți cu diplome: Marcel Ciolacu a terminat școala la 45 de ani". 60m.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  11. ^ "Marcel Ciolacu, revoluționar de Buzău: „Nu-mi faceți o vină că nu am murit la Revoluție!"". www.digi24.ro. 17 December 2019. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  12. ^ Vulcan, Dora (30 March 2023). "Dosarul privind certificatul de revoluționar al președintelui PSD, Marcel Ciolacu, clasat". Retrieved 15 June 2023 – via romania.europalibera.org.
  13. ^ "Trecutul revoluționar al lui Marcel Ciolacu a rămas „în coadă de pește". Ce s-a ales de certificatul de luptător cu rol determinant al actualului lider PSD". Ziare.com. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  14. ^ Voinea, Mihai (16 December 2019). "Eroul Ciolacu. Liderul PSD are certificat de revoluționar și a cerut preschimbarea pentru a avea dreptul la indemnizație". Recorder. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  15. ^ "Tovarășii de vânătoare ai lui Omar Hayssam deschid listele parlamentare la Buzău". justitiecurata.ro/. 2016.
  16. ^ Rădulescu, Adelina (26 November 2019). "Marcel Ciolacu, supraviețuitorul tuturor patronilor săi politici, de la Ion Vasile și Victor Ponta, la Liviu Dragnea". Europa Liberă România.
  17. ^ "Lista miniştrilor din Guvernul Mihai Tudose, aprobată în CExN al PSD. Cine sunt noile nume din Executiv". Mediafax.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  18. ^ "LIVE BLOG. Moțiunea de cenzură a trecut. Partidele şi preşedintele îşi ocupă poziţiile". www.digi24.ro.
  19. ^ "LIVE UPDATE. 39 de organizații PSD susțin moțiunea de cenzură. Parlamentul, convocat duminică". Libertatea (in Romanian). 17 June 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  20. ^ "Premierul: Un ministru de interne care îşi permite să mă mintă în halul ăsta, nu mai am ce lucra cu domnia sa". www.digi24.ro.
  21. ^ "Mihai Tudose a rămas fără sprijinul PSD şi a demisionat". www.digi24.ro.
  22. ^ "Liderul PSD Buzău: "Liviu Dragnea a ajuns un om orbit de putere, orgolii și spaime imaginare"". www.digi24.ro.
  23. ^ "Liviu Dragnea și Marcel Ciolacu s-au certat în Parlament: "Bagi și scoți deputați"". www.digi24.ro.
  24. ^ "Deputatul PSD Marcel Ciolacu neagă că ar fi avut o altercaţie cu Liviu Dragnea". www.digi24.ro.
  25. ^ "Marcel Ciolacu este noul președinte al Camerei Deputaților". www.digi24.ro.
  26. ^ "Surse: Baronii PSD încearcă să o convingă pe Viorica Dăncilă să demisioneze mâine. În locul ei – conducere colectivă". www.digi24.ro.
  27. ^ "Ce a anunțat Marcel Ciolacu după discuția cu Viorica Dăncilă". www.digi24.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  28. ^ "Dăncilă i-a predat lui Ciolacu şi partidul, şi ştafeta greşelilor gramaticale". www.digi24.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  29. ^ "POLITICS Romania's Social Democrats to move Congress online amid coronavirus restrictions". www.romania-insider.com. 9 March 2020.
  30. ^ "Romania's Ciolacu Becomes Prime Minister After Securing Majority". 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023 – via Bloomberg.
  31. ^ Andrei Luca Popescu (12 May 2015). "Familia PSD de la Buzău. Amintiri din tinerețea unui consilier onorific al lui Ponta: vânătoare cu Omar Hayssam, contract umflat cu 1,3 milioane euro pentru un coleg de partid". Gândul.
  32. ^ "Cine este Marcel Ciolacu, propus vicepremier fără portofoliu. Vâslașul lui Dragnea și scandalul pozelor cu teroristul Hayssam". HotNews.ro. 28 June 2017.
  33. ^ "Cine e înlocuitorul lui Dragnea la șefia Camerei Deputaților: Marcel Ciolacu și scandalul Hayssam". Ziare.com. 29 May 2019.
  34. ^ "Cine e Marcel Ciolacu, noul președinte al Camerei Deputaților: De la vânătoarea cu Hayssam și partidele de pescuit cu Dragnea, în tabăra puciștilor". HotNews.ro. 29 May 2019.
  35. ^ "Ciolacu, despre patriotismul economic: Adică să producem şi să consumăm cât mai mult româneşte". Mediafax.ro. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  36. ^ "Marcel Ciolacu spune că va dezvolta economia prin „patriotism economic" când ajunge la guvern". Profit.ro. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  37. ^ "Ciolacu spune că viziunea PSD privind guvernarea se referă la „dezvoltare prin patriotism economic"". www.hotnews.ro. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  38. ^ "Marcel Ciolacu apără o linie naționalistă a PSD: Există dublu standard / Naționalismul nu este un lucru rău – Politic – HotNews.ro". 4 March 2020.
  39. ^ "Marcel Ciolacu dă semnalul întoarcerii la mesajul naționalist promovat de Liviu Dragnea: Rețeta de pastă de dinți din România este total diferită de cea din Europa. Roșiile au alt gust/ România are nevoie de naționalism". 4 March 2020.
  40. ^ "VIDEO INTERVIU Marcel Ciolacu: Nu sunt de acord cu căsătoria între persoane de același sex, nici cu parteneriatul civil / Cum explică votul europarlamentarilor PSD pentru rezoluția "Europa, zonă de libertate pentru persoanele LGBT"". 16 March 2021.
Political offices
Preceded by President of the Chamber of Deputies
2019–2020 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Chamber of Deputies
2021–2023 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of Romania
2023–present 		Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by President of the Social Democratic Party
2019–present 		Incumbent
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