Liviu Dragnea
Encyclopedia
Liviu Nicolae Dragnea is a Romania
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 engineer and politician. A member 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) and former member of 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), he was Minister of Administration and Interior in the Emil Boc
Emil Boc
Emil Boc is the Prime Minister of Romania, having served since December 2008. In June 2004, he was elected Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, the largest city in Transylvania. Boc is also the president of the Democratic Liberal Party, who designated him as Prime Minister in 2008. On October 13, 2009, his...

 cabinet in January-February 2009.

Biography

Dragnea was born in Gratia
Gratia, Teleorman
Gratia is a commune in Teleorman County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Ciurari-Deal, Drăghineşti and Gratia....

, Teleorman County
Teleorman County
Teleorman is a county of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with its capital city at Alexandria.The name Teleorman is of Cumanic origin. It literally means crazy forest and, by extension, "thick and shadowy forest" in the Cuman language...

, and after completing secondary studies at Unirea Mathematics-Physics High School in Turnu Măgurele
Turnu Magurele
Turnu Măgurele is a city in Teleorman County, Romania . Developed nearby the site once occupied by the medieval port of Turnu, it is situated north-east of the confluence between the Olt River and the Danube....

 in 1981, enrolled at the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest. He graduated from the Transport faculty in 1987. He also studied at the Public Administration School of the Italian Ministry of the Interior (1997), the Faculty of Management and Public Administration at the Ecological University of Bucharest (2003) and the Carol I National Defence University
Carol I National Defence University
The Carol I National Defence University , located in Bucharest, Romania, was established in 1889. It seeks to train military and civilian experts in security and national defence, and undertakes scientific studies related to these matters when requested by relevant state authorities.-External links:*...

 (2004). From 1996 to 2000, while Dragnea was a member of the PD, he served as prefect
Prefect (Romania)
A prefect in Romania represents the Government in each of the country's 41 counties, as well as the Municipality of Bucharest.-Attributes:The main attributes of prefects are defined at Article 123 of the Constitution of Romania:...

 of Teleorman County; he then switched to the PSD, which won the 2000 election
Romanian legislative election, 2000
Legislative elections where be held in Romania on November 26, 2000, together with the Presidential election. The Greater Romania Party made big gains, as did the PDSR, which became the ruling party. The formerly governing Romanian Democratic Convention lost all its seats and was shortly...

. In 2000, he became president of the Teleorman County Council, being re-elected in 2004
Romanian local election, 2004
Local elections where held in Romania in late May 2004, and a runoff for mayors in early June 2004In late May where elected:* all the villages, communes, cities, and municipal cluncils , and the Sectors Local Councils of Bucharest...

 and 2008
Romanian local election, 2008
Local elections were held in Romania on June 1, 2008, with a runoff for mayors on June 15, 2008.On June 1 where elected:* all the villages, communes, cities, and municipal cluncils , and the Sectors Local Councils of Bucharest...

. He is a member of the PSD's permanent national bureau and of the party's Teleorman County chapter. In 2006, he was elected party vice president for state reform and decentralisation (suspending himself from the position after the failure of the presidential impeachment 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...

), and he led the PSD's campaign 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...

. Following the 2008 parliamentary 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...

, for which he helped run the campaign, he was named coordinator of PSD ministers in the Boc cabinet, charged with maintaining links between ministers and the party leadership.

In January 2009, following the resignation of Gabriel Oprea
Gabriel Oprea
Gabriel Oprea is a Romanian soldier and politician. A member of the National Union for the Progress of Romania and a former member of the Social Democratic Party , he has been a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Ilfov County since 2004...

, Dragnea was named Interior Minister. He announced his priorities as being the safety of children in school, the safety of citizens on the street, decentralisation and administrative reform. Twelve days later, he resigned, citing a lack of resources and funds to implement his plans. There was speculation that he was forced out by party president 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...

 and Sector 5
Sector 5 (Bucharest)
Sector 5 is a sector in Bucharest.-Quarters:*13 Septembrie*Cotroceni*Dealul Spirii*Giurgiului*Ferentari*Rahova-Politics:...

 Mayor Marian Vanghelie
Marian Vanghelie
Daniel Marian Vanghelie is a Romanian politician of Jewish and Gypsy descent, being the mayor of the 5th Sector of Bucharest since 2000 and a prominent member and vice-president of the ....

 for refusing to name an individual suggested by the latter as a secretary of state at the ministry. Also, his brief tenure was rocked by an armed robbery in Braşov
Brasov
Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....

 and an arms theft from a depot in Ciorogârla
Ciorogârla
Ciorogârla is a commune in the southwestern part of Ilfov County, Romania. It is composed of two villages, Ciorogârla and Dârvari. The Ciorogârla River flows through this location; its name, of Slavic origin, means "murky stream".-Further reading:...

. He remains county council president and continued to be a vehement critic of the PSD—PD-L alliance (which he opposed from the start), referring to Transport Minister Radu Berceanu
Radu Berceanu
Radu Mircea Berceanu is a Romanian engineer and politician. A member of the Democratic Liberal Party , he was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Dolj County from 1990 to 2004, and has sat in the Romanian Senate since 2004 , representing the same county...

 as a "nitwit" and to Prime Minister Boc as a "whippersnapper".

Dragnea has been characterised as a "local baron" with a powerful influence within the PSD, of which he was elected secretary general in February 2010. For instance, in 2006, he was one of the individuals who forced 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...

 to resign as party head and Chamber of Deputies president. Moreover, his wealth and business dealings have drawn attention: as of late 2008, he had eight landholdings (including in Azuga
Azuga
Azuga is a small resort town nestled in the mountains of Prahova county in the Wallachian region of Romania. Azuga is located at the foot of the Bucegi mountains, and contains the longest ski run in Romania, the Sorica - together with other ski slopes...

 and Năvodari
Navodari
Năvodari is a town in Constanţa County, region of Dobrogea, Romania, with a population of 32,400.-History:The settlement was mentioned for the first time in 1421 under the name Kara Koyun , to be renamed later on Karaköy or Carachioi...

), an apartment, two residences and a vacation house, a hotel, an inn, and two commercial venues in Turnu Măgurele. Fear of losing control over this Teleorman County "empire" was cited as yet another possible motive for his resignation. He was accused by 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...

 of falsifying documents while attempting to access European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 funds for building a new border checkpoint with Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, but charges were later dropped without much explanation. Controversy arose too during his first term as county council president. In 2001, the council privatised a state construction firm at a very low price. Dragnea's personal driver won it at auction, and Dragnea awarded the firm many public contracts for road construction, some of these being considered overvalued. In 2004, he was accused by high-ranking PD members of having bought a hotel for 800 million lei
Romanian leu
The leu is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 bani . The name of the currency means "lion". On 1 July 2005, Romania underwent a currency reform, switching from the previous leu to a new leu . 1 RON is equal to 10,000 ROL...

 (some $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

27,000) and reselling it for 40 billion lei (around $1.3 million) to his driver's firm, before regaining the property. Also that year, he was blamed for wasting public money by having the council sponsor a basketball club.

He is married to Bombonica Dragnea.
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