Theodor Stolojan

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Theodor Dumitru Stolojan (born October 24, 1943) is a Romanian politician. An economist by training, he is a leader of the Democratic-Liberal Party. He previously served as Prime minister of Romania from September 1991 to November 1992. He and his wife Elena have a son, Vlad Stolojan, and a daughter, Ada Palea. He is currently a Member of the European Parliament for Romania, representing the Democratic Liberal Party (EPP-ED).

[edit] Career

Before the 1989 Revolution he worked at the Committee for State Planning, together with Nicolae Văcăroiu, who was President of the Senate between December 20, 2000 and October 14, 2008.^[1]

His jobs during communism at Ministry of Finances:
1972 – 1977 Economist in State Budget Department
1978 – 1982 Chief of Accountancy of State Budget
1988 – 1989 Vice-Director and Director of Currency and International Finances Relations Department, General Inspector in State Incomes Department and Adviser in Ministry of Finances.

He worked for the World Bank, then for a Romanian private company. In 2000 he re-entered politics as a member of the National Liberal Party (PNL); he ran for the presidency of Romania in the November 2000 elections, but came in third, behind Ion Iliescu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor. He was named president of the PNL in August 2002.

In 2003 his party approached the Democratic Party leader Traian Băsescu, at that time the mayor of Bucharest, and initiated an alliance named "D.A. - Dreptate şi Adevăr" (Justice and Truth). In February 2004, he was chosen as the alliance's candidate in the Romanian presidential election of November, 2004.

On October 2, 2004, Stolojan surprisingly stepped down from the leadership of the PNL and also withdrew from the presidential race. He cited serious health problems as a reason for his decision. Stolojan became a senior advisor to Băsescu after the latter was inaugurated as President on December 20, 2004.

On October 10, 2006, Stolojan was expelled from the PNL,^[2] and in December he formed a new party, the Liberal Democrats (PLD), whose president he was elected at the first PLD congress on March 31, 2007. In January 2008, the PLD merged with the Democratic Party to form the Democratic Liberal Party, of which Stolojan is now a member.

The PLD won the most seats in the 2008 election, and on December 10, 2008, Stolojan was designated prime minister of Romania by President Traian Băsescu. Five days later, he withdrew his acceptance, saying he was stepping down in favour of a younger candidate; Emil Boc was then selected.^[3]

[edit] References