Cozmin Guşă
Encyclopedia
Cozmin Horea Guşă is a Romania
n physicist, journalist and politician. A member of the National Initiative Party
(PIN), he was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies
for Bucharest
from 2004 to 2008.
He has been married since 1994 and has a son and a daughter.
and attended the Physics faculty of Babeş-Bolyai University
from 1989 to 1994. He also took classes in mass-media management in the United States
(1997-1998) and a class in international economic negotiation at the École nationale d'administration
(2002). He holds a 2006 doctorate in Management from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, and since 2007 has been working on a doctorate in Geopolitics at the University of Bucharest
. From 1994 to 1996, he headed a national press wholesaler, followed by a stint (1996-1997) as head of the editorial division at Radio Sonic in Cluj-Napoca
. From 1997 to 1998, he headed the newspaper Ştirea, holding a similar position from 1998 to 2001 at the Jurnalul Naţional
, also working during that time at Antena 1. From 2001 to 2003, he was president of the Association for the Promotion of Young People.
Guşă's political career began in 2001, when he became secretary general of the Social Democratic Party
(PSD); until 2003, he was thought of as the right-hand man of then-party leader and Prime Minister
Adrian Năstase
. That year, he resigned from the party, citing differences in vision with members of an older generation such as Viorel Hrebenciuc
, Octav Cozmâncă
and Miron Mitrea
. Later in 2003, he went on to found Iniţiativa 2003, a non-partisan, non-governmental organisation; he remained its president until 2008.
Following an agreement between his group and the Democratic Party
(PD), Guşă entered the PD and served on its permanent bureau. While the situation was awkward at first, with Guşă accustomed to attack PD leader Traian Băsescu
while a PSD member, Băsescu selected Guşă as his campaign director for the 2004 presidential election
. A victorious Băsescu considered the architect of his win to be Guşă, who himself entered Parliament at the concurrent legislative election
. He remained in charge of the PD's campaigns into 2005.
In early 2005, Guşă was elected head of the PD group in the Chamber of Deputies, but the party leadership invalidated the vote on a technicality. Some party leaders accused him of trying to take over the leadership. Soon afterwards, Guşă, together with two other deputies, resigned from the PD leadership and founded the National Initiative Party
(PIN); he sat as an independent for the remainder of his term. The party failed to win any seats at the 2007 European Parliament election
, prompting Guşă to resign from the leadership, but he was soon re-elected party president. He ran for Mayor of Bucharest
in June 2008, coming in fifth place with 5.76% of the vote. His party did not run candidates at the 2008 legislative election
later that year, knowing it did not have a realistic chance of winning, and Guşă declined an invitation to run from the Cluj County
PSD, preferring to focus on business. In January 2009, he announced his "temporary" withdrawal from political life, with Lavinia Şandru
succeeding him as head of the PIN.
Guşă has been a critic of Romanian Presidents
Ion Iliescu
, toward whom Jurnalul Naţional had an "extremely virulent attitude" while Guşă was there (in turn, in March 2009, Iliescu threatened to resign from the PSD if party leader Mircea Geoană
took on Guşă, whom he labelled an "interloper" and a "mercenary", as an adviser) and, once they broke with each other, of Traian Băsescu, whom he called a "hypocrite" who "mocks the Constitution
" months after the split, and whom he accused of wishing to dismantle the National Anticorruption Directorate
once Geoană went ahead and named him an adviser on campaign strategy for Transylvania
. Guşă has himself held presidential ambitions, announcing he would run in the event the 2007 referendum
to impeach Băsescu (which he backed, citing "serious constitutional violations" by the President) had succeeded. In part, he wished to block the rise of Gigi Becali
, who had already declared he would run.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n physicist, journalist and politician. A member of the National Initiative Party
National Initiative Party
The National Initiative Party is a small Romanian political party....
(PIN), he was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Romania
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...
for Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
from 2004 to 2008.
He has been married since 1994 and has a son and a daughter.
Biography
He was born in Câmpia TurziiCâmpia Turzii
Câmpia Turzii is a city in Cluj County, Romania, which was formed in 1925 by the union of two villages, Ghiriş and Sâncrai...
and attended the Physics faculty of Babeş-Bolyai University
Babes-Bolyai University
The Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca is an university in Romania. With almost 50,000 students, the university offers 105 specialisations, of which there are 105 in Romanian, 67 in Hungarian, 17 in German, and 5 in English...
from 1989 to 1994. He also took classes in mass-media management in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(1997-1998) and a class in international economic negotiation at the École nationale d'administration
École nationale d'administration
The École Nationale d'Administration , one of the most prestigious of French graduate schools , was created in 1945 by Charles de Gaulle to democratise access to the senior civil service. It is now entrusted with the selection and initial training of senior French officials...
(2002). He holds a 2006 doctorate in Management from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, and since 2007 has been working on a doctorate in Geopolitics at the University of Bucharest
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...
. From 1994 to 1996, he headed a national press wholesaler, followed by a stint (1996-1997) as head of the editorial division at Radio Sonic in Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
. From 1997 to 1998, he headed the newspaper Ştirea, holding a similar position from 1998 to 2001 at the Jurnalul Naţional
Jurnalul National
Jurnalul Naţional is a Romanian newspaper, part of the Intact media group led by Dan Voiculescu, which also includes the popular TV station Antena 1....
, also working during that time at Antena 1. From 2001 to 2003, he was president of the Association for the Promotion of Young People.
Guşă's political career began in 2001, when he became secretary general of the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (Romania)
The Social Democratic Party is the major social-democratic political party in Romania. It was formed in 1992, after the post-communist National Salvation Front broke apart. It adopted its present name after a merger with a minor social-democratic party in 2001. Since its formation, it has always...
(PSD); until 2003, he was thought of as the right-hand man of then-party leader and Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Romania
The Prime Minister of Romania is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers , when the term "Government" included more than the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was called The Council of Ministers...
Adrian Năstase
Adrian Nastase
Adrian Năstase is a Romanian politician who was the Prime Minister of Romania from December 2000 to December 2004.He competed as the Social Democratic Party candidate in the 2004 presidential election, but was defeated by centre-right Justice and Truth Alliance candidate Traian Băsescu.He was...
. That year, he resigned from the party, citing differences in vision with members of an older generation such as Viorel Hrebenciuc
Viorel Hrebenciuc
Viorel Hrebenciuc is a Romanian statistician and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party , he has been a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Bacău County since 2000.-Biography:...
, Octav Cozmâncă
Octav Cozmâncă
Octav Cozmâncă is a Romanian politician. A former member of the Social Democratic Party , he was a member of the Romanian Senate for Botoşani County from 1996 to 2008...
and Miron Mitrea
Miron Mitrea
Miron Tudor Mitrea is a Romanian engineer and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party , he was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Vrancea County from 1996 to 2008, and has sat in the Romanian Senate since 2008, representing the same county...
. Later in 2003, he went on to found Iniţiativa 2003, a non-partisan, non-governmental organisation; he remained its president until 2008.
Following an agreement between his group and the Democratic Party
Democratic Liberal Party (Romania)
The Democratic Liberal Party is a populist, centre-right party in Romania. It was formed on 15 December 2007, when the Democratic Party merged with the Liberal Democratic Party. From 2004 to 2007, the Democratic Party was part of the governing Justice and Truth Alliance...
(PD), Guşă entered the PD and served on its permanent bureau. While the situation was awkward at first, with Guşă accustomed to attack PD leader Traian Băsescu
Traian Basescu
Traian Băsescu is the current President of Romania. After serving as the mayor of Bucharest from June 2000 until December 2004, he was elected president in the Romanian Presidential Elections of 2004 and inaugurated on December 20, 2004...
while a PSD member, Băsescu selected Guşă as his campaign director for the 2004 presidential election
Romanian presidential election, 2004
A presidential election was held in Romania on November 28, 2004. 12 candidates competed for the office. As no candidate won more than 50% of the votes, a run-off was held on December 12, 2004, between the two leading candidates: prime minister Adrian Năstase of the ruling Social Democratic Party...
. A victorious Băsescu considered the architect of his win to be Guşă, who himself entered Parliament at the concurrent legislative election
Romanian legislative election, 2004
The Romanian legislative election of 2004 was held on 28 November 2004. 137 seats in the Senate of Romania and 314 seats in the Chamber of Deputies were up for election.The 2004 legislative election was held simultaneously with the presidential election...
. He remained in charge of the PD's campaigns into 2005.
In early 2005, Guşă was elected head of the PD group in the Chamber of Deputies, but the party leadership invalidated the vote on a technicality. Some party leaders accused him of trying to take over the leadership. Soon afterwards, Guşă, together with two other deputies, resigned from the PD leadership and founded the National Initiative Party
National Initiative Party
The National Initiative Party is a small Romanian political party....
(PIN); he sat as an independent for the remainder of his term. The party failed to win any seats at the 2007 European Parliament election
European Parliament election, 2007 (Romania)
Romania elected its members of the European Parliament for the first time on 25 November 2007; the election was initially scheduled for 13 May, but the PM postponed it for domestic political reasons...
, prompting Guşă to resign from the leadership, but he was soon re-elected party president. He ran for Mayor of Bucharest
Mayor of Bucharest
The Mayor of Bucharest , sometimes known as the General Mayor, is the head of the Bucharest City Hall in Bucharest, Romania, which is responsible for city-wide affairs, such as the water system, the transport system and the main boulevards...
in June 2008, coming in fifth place with 5.76% of the vote. His party did not run candidates at the 2008 legislative election
Romanian legislative election, 2008
Legislative elections were held in Romania on November 30, 2008. The Democratic Liberal Party won most seats in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, although the alliance headed by the Social Democratic Party won a fractionally higher vote share.-Electoral System:President Traian Băsescu...
later that year, knowing it did not have a realistic chance of winning, and Guşă declined an invitation to run from the Cluj County
Cluj County
Cluj ; is a county of Romania, in Transylvania, with the capital city at Cluj-Napoca.-Demographics:In 2007, it had a population of 692,316 and a population density of 104/km².*Romanians – 80%*Hungarians – 17.5%*Roma – 2.5%-Geography:...
PSD, preferring to focus on business. In January 2009, he announced his "temporary" withdrawal from political life, with Lavinia Şandru
Lavinia Şandru
Marcela Lavinia Şandru is a Romanian politician. The current president of the National Initiative Party , she was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Mureş County from 2004 to 2008....
succeeding him as head of the PIN.
Guşă has been a critic of Romanian Presidents
President of Romania
The President of Romania is the head of state of Romania. The President is directly elected by a two-round system for a five-year term . An individual may serve two terms...
Ion Iliescu
Ion Iliescu
Ion Iliescu served as President of Romania from 1990 until 1996, and from 2000 until 2004. From 1996 to 2000 and from 2004 until his retirement in 2008, Iliescu was a Senator for the Social Democratic Party , whose honorary president he remains....
, toward whom Jurnalul Naţional had an "extremely virulent attitude" while Guşă was there (in turn, in March 2009, Iliescu threatened to resign from the PSD if party leader Mircea Geoană
Mircea Geoana
Dan Mircea Geoană is a Romanian politician, who served as president of the upper chamber of the Romanian Parliament, the Senate from December 20, 2008 until he was revoked by the senators on November 23, 2011. From 21 April 2005 until 21 February 2010 he was the head of the Partidul Social...
took on Guşă, whom he labelled an "interloper" and a "mercenary", as an adviser) and, once they broke with each other, of Traian Băsescu, whom he called a "hypocrite" who "mocks the Constitution
Constitution of Romania
The 1991 Constitution of Romania, adopted on 21 November 1991, voted in the referendum of 8 December 1991 and introduced on the same day, is the current fundamental law that establishes the structure of the government of Romania, the rights and obligations of the country's citizens, and its mode...
" months after the split, and whom he accused of wishing to dismantle the National Anticorruption Directorate
National Anticorruption Directorate
National Anticorruption Directorate , formerly National Anticorruption Prosecution Office , is the Romanian agency tasked with preventing, investigating and prosecuting corruption-related offenses that caused a material damage higher than €200,000 or whose value of the involved amounts or goods is...
once Geoană went ahead and named him an adviser on campaign strategy for Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
. Guşă has himself held presidential ambitions, announcing he would run in the event the 2007 referendum
Romanian presidential impeachment referendum, 2007
The Romanian presidential impeachment referendum of 2007 was conducted in order to determine whether the president of Romania Traian Băsescu should be forced to step down.On April 19, 2007 the Romanian parliament suspended Băsescu...
to impeach Băsescu (which he backed, citing "serious constitutional violations" by the President) had succeeded. In part, he wished to block the rise of Gigi Becali
Gigi Becali
George Becali is a controversial Romanian politician and businessman, mostly known for his involvement in the Steaua Bucureşti football club.He has been a Member of the European Parliament since June 2009.-Biography:...
, who had already declared he would run.