Florin Cîțu
Florin Cîțu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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File:Romanian Prime Minister Vasile-Florin Cîțu (11-05-2021) (cropped).jpg | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
President of the Senate of Romania | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 23 November 2021 |
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Preceded by | Anca Dragu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
69th Prime Minister of Romania | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 23 December 2020 – 25 November 2021 |
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President | Klaus Iohannis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deputy | Dan Barna (2020–2021) Kelemen Hunor |
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Preceded by | Nicolae Ciucă (Acting) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Nicolae Ciucă | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
President of the National Liberal Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 25 September 2021 – 2 April 2022 |
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Preceded by | Ludovic Orban | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Gheorghe Flutur (Acting) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Minister of Public Finance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 4 November 2019 – 23 December 2020 |
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Prime Minister | Ludovic Orban Nicolae Ciucă (Acting) |
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Preceded by | Eugen Teodorovici | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Alexandru Nazare | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 8 July 2021 – 18 August 2021 |
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Prime Minister | Himself | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Alexandru Nazare | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Dan Vîlceanu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Member of the Senate of Romania | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 21 December 2016 |
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Constituency | Bucharest | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Râmnicu Vâlcea, Vâlcea County, Romania[1] |
1 April 1972 ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | National Liberal Party (PNL) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Education | Grinnell College (BA) Iowa State University (MA) |
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Website | Official website |
Florin Vasile Cîțu (Romanian pronunciation: [floˈrin vaˈsile ˈkɨt͡su]; born 1 April 1972) is a Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania between December 2020 and November 2021 (acting between September and November 2021). Between September 2021 and April 2022, he has been the leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL). After a motion of no-confidence ended his premiership,[2] Cîțu was voted President of the Senate of Romania by the new PSD-PNL-UDMR/RMDSZ coalition in the Parliament. Previously, he also served as Minister of Public Finance in both the first and second cabinet of former PNL Prime Minister Ludovic Orban between 2019 and 2020.
Contents
Personal life
Florin Cîțu was born in Râmnicu Vâlcea, although he grew up in the village of Tulei-Câmpeni from Golești commune in Vâlcea County, Oltenia. He is the third ever Prime Minister of Romania from Vâlcea, after the CDR Radu Vasile (actually stemming from PNȚ-CD and hailing from Sibiu) and Mugur Isărescu (a native of Drăgășani).
Furthermore, while abroad for his bachelor studies in the United States at Grinnell College, Cîțu was arrested after being found drunk or under the influence of alcohol while driving DWI and DUI by the American police. He was fined with 1,300 USD and jailed for two days.[3]
Education
After graduating from Grinnell College in 1996,[4] Cîțu obtained a master's degree in economics and attended the program for a doctoral degree that he did not complete[5][6] in macroeconomics and international economics from Iowa State University in 2001.[7]
Early career
Following university graduation, Cîțu worked as an economist for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (2001–2003) and the European Investment Bank (2003–2005).[8] He also worked as an investment banker at ING Group’s Romanian division up until 2011, when he was fired on the grounds of incompetence and because of lack of professionalism given that he proved incapable of working well in teams (preferring to do whatever he wanted instead), as subsequently reported by his employer Mișu Negrițoiu who went on to describe him as 'a little satrap'.[9]
Political career
As Minister of Finance
In 2019, the joint budget and finance committee of the Parliament of Romania failed to endorse the nomination of Cîțu as finance minister, though their vote was not binding.[10]
On 26 February 2020, following the vote of no confidence against the Orban Cabinet that had taken place 5 February,[11] President Klaus Iohannis designated Cîțu Prime Minister of Romania and asked him to form a new government.[12][13] Just before the investiture vote took place, Cîțu stepped back in favor of his party leader Ludovic Orban. Due to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic, the main opposition party, i.e. the Social Democratic Party (PSD), agreed to another term of the Orban cabinet until the December 2020 legislative election. Consequently, Florin Cîțu took back his position as finance minister until the formation of his own cabinet in late December 2020.[14]
As Prime Minister
After 9 December 2020, Cîțu was the National Liberal Party's Prime Minister proposal[15] to succeed acting head of government Nicolae Ciucă (also issued from the PNL),[16][17] following the resignation of Ludovic Orban on 7 December.[18] Cîțu became Prime Minister on 23 December, forming a three-party coalition government. The composition of his cabinet was criticised for having only one female minister and for the appointment of Sorin Cîmpeanu, who in a previous ministerial position had proposed legislation "that protected those found to have plagiarised their academic theses".[19]
During the term of his cabinet, he served as acting Minister of Health (between 14 and 21 April 2021) as a result of the firing of preceding Minister Vlad Voiculescu.[20] On 8 July, he took back the position of Minister of Public Finance for a second time after preceding Minister Alexandru Nazare was ousted, this time acting,[21] until Dan Vîlceanu was sworn in on 18 August.[22]
In September 2021, the coalition was threatened by the withdrawal of USR PLUS party members, following the sacking on no pertinent reported grounds of former Justice Minister, Stelian Ion.[23] The USR PLUS entered parliamentary opposition and put forth a motion of no confidence alongside AUR, thus triggering a major governmental crisis in Romania, which was already hit hard by the fourth wave of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
His former coalition partners, USR PLUS, heavily criticized Cîțu for the adoption of PNDL3 and Anghel Saligny projects through emergency ordinances, two public procurement money-based projects which they deemed corrupt and thereby legitimizing theft from public money and EU funds. Subsequently, Cîțu's position as Prime Minister has been backed by a boycotting of the no confidence motion by both PNL and PSD up to the current day.
In the meantime, his own political party has been swept from public trust (constantly registering lower points in the opinion polls conducted by various institutes for the upcoming legislative elections) and has undergone increased internal turmoil with respect to the congress scheduled for the 25 September. In addition, in late September 2021, DNA officially started the criminal investigation in Florin Cîțu's case on the grounds of abuse of office and incitement to abuse of office as Prime Minister.[24]
On 5 October 2021, Cîțu was ousted from his position as Prime Minister after a vote of no-confidence. Former coalition partners USR (previously USR PLUS) described the vote as stemming from "all the reforms that have been blocked in recent months, for the failure of the vaccination campaign, for the use of money and public functions to buy votes at the PNL congress".[25]
As President of the National Liberal Party (PNL)
On 25 September 2021, Cîțu became President of the National Liberal Party (PNL), as a result of defeating previous president Ludovic Orban in a party congress held on the same day at Romexpo in Bucharest before approximately 5,000 delegates.[26]
Cîțu resigned from this position on 2 April 2022, under pressure from his party colleagues.[27]
As Senate President
On 23 November 2021, Cîțu became president of the Senate, after Anca Dragu of the Save Romania Union (USR) was dismissed earlier that day.[28]
Other activities
- ING Bank Romanian division, investment banker up until 2011, when he was fired [29][30][31][32][33]
- European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2019)[34]
- European Investment Bank (EIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2019)[35]
- World Bank, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2019)[36]
Foreign honours
See also
References
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- ↑ DECRET nr. 1.047 din 7 decembrie 2020 pentru desemnarea unui membru al Guvernului ca prim-ministru interimar, 7 December 2020 (in Română)
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- ↑ Decree of the President of Ukraine from 23 августа 2021 year № 403/2021 «О награждении Ф.-В. Кыцу орденом "За заслуги"» Script error: No such module "In lang".
Political offices | ||
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Preceded by | Minister of Public Finance 2019–2020 |
Succeeded by Alexandru Nazare |
Preceded by | Prime Minister of Romania 2020–2021 |
Succeeded by Nicolae Ciucă |
Preceded by | President of the Romanian Senate 2021–present |
Incumbent |
Party political offices | ||
Preceded by | Leader of the National Liberal Party 2021–2022 |
Succeeded by Gheorghe Flutur Acting |
- Articles with short description
- Use dmy dates from December 2020
- Pages with broken file links
- Official website not in Wikidata
- 1972 births
- Living people
- National Liberal Party (Romania) politicians
- Romanian Ministers of Finance
- Grinnell College alumni
- Iowa State University alumni
- People from Râmnicu Vâlcea
- Prime Ministers of Romania
- Chairpersons of the National Liberal Party (Romania)
- Presidents of the Senate of Romania