Dan Nica
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Dan Nica (born July 2, 1960) is a
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
n engineer and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), he has been a
Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...
since 2014. He held a seat in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for
Galați County Galați () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Moldavia region, with the capital city at Galați, between latitude, 45°25'N and latitude, 46°10'N latitude, longitude, 27°20'E and longitude, 28°10'E longitude. It borders the counties of Vaslu ...
from 1996 to 2014. In the Adrian Năstase cabinet, he was Minister of Communications and Information Technology from 2000 to July 2004. In the Emil Boc cabinet, he was the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Administration and Interior between February and October 2009. In the Victor Ponta cabinet, he served as Communications Minister for a second time, from May 2012 to February 2014.


Biography


Early life and career

He was born in Panciu,
Vrancea County Vrancea () is a county (județ) in Romania, with its seat at Focșani. It is mostly in the historical region of Moldavia but the southern part, below the Milcov (Siret), Milcov River, is in Muntenia. Demographics At the 2021 Romanian census, 2 ...
and in 1985 graduated from the Electronics and Telecommunications Faculty of the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iaşi. He also holds a 2005 doctorate in Communication Sciences, has co-designed three patented inventions, and authored the 2001 book ''Guvern, cetățean, societatea informațională'' ("Government, Citizen, IT Society"). From 1985 to 1996, he worked at the Galați County Telecommunications Directorate, and was its director from 1991 onward. In this capacity he coordinated a telephone-extension project, which resulted in the county becoming one of the first in Romania in which over 90% of households had a telephone. Concurrently, from 1993 to 1996, he was an associate professor at the University of Galați, teaching Telecommunications and Data Transmission. In 1996, Nica was elected to the Chamber for the PDSR (PSD from 2001); he sat on the industry and services committee. From 1997 to 2003, he headed the
Galați Galați ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the river Danube. and the sixth-larges ...
municipal party organisation, while from 1999 to 2003, he was first vice president of the PSD Galați County chapter, and from 1999 to 2004, he sat on the party's central executive bureau. He was re-elected in 2000, and was also part of the Năstase cabinet until July 2004, when he was dismissed during a reshuffle. During this period he belonged to the Chamber's public administration, land management and ecological equilibrium committee and introduced a law for supporting and promoting small and medium-sized businesses. Also, from 2002 to 2004, he was a member of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force. He was elected again in 2004, following which he became vice president of the information technology and communications committee. During the 2004 campaign, the Coalition for a Clean Parliament, an NGO, accused him of lacking the moral integrity needed to sit in Parliament, claiming he had taken decisions as minister that benefited certain private companies at the expense of the state and of market competition. Cited were an order regulating taxes on mobile telephone carriers that allegedly saved one company around 10 million a year, and the charge that Nica dropped a clause in the Romtelecom privatisation contract in 2003. He sued for 1.5 billion lei (some $50,000) in damages, but lost.


In government and subsequently

A month after the 2008 election, in which Nica won yet another term in the Chamber, he was named vice premier in the Boc cabinet."Guvern de regăţeni, cu 'moţ' ardelean" ("Old Kingdom Government, with a Few Transylvanians")
, ''Adevărul'', 19 December 2008; accessed July 2, 2009
In January 2009, following the resignation of Gabriel Oprea and before Liviu Dragnea took office, Nica was interim Interior Minister; when Dragnea resigned the following month, Nica again took over the ministry, a scenario that was one of several options discussed within the PSD. As vice premier, Nica had to play a balancing act when tensions appeared within the ruling PSD— PDL coalition, both urging that PSD (and PDL) ministers show "restraint" in their public statements about the other party, and criticising the PDL at times himself, for instance accusing Regional Development Minister Vasile Blaga of "arrogance" in his attitude toward PSD ministers. As Interior Minister, he took note of alleged
fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...
during the
2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Member of the European Parliament, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent s ...
, promising that those who voted more than once would be arrested, and announcing soon after the polls closed that 35 penal dossiers had already been opened for offences that included attempted fraud and giving money and food to influence voters. In late September 2009, Nica alleged that all available buses had been rented for the first and second rounds of the upcoming presidential election, and that these would be used to transport voters to multiple polling stations so they could cast more than one ballot. Citing these comments and a deteriorating public safety situation that included a general rise in crime and a spate of armed robberies, Boc moved to dismiss Nica. On October 1,
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Traian Băsescu approved Nica's dismissal, prompting all eight of his PSD cabinet colleagues to resign in protest that day. He was elected one of the PSD's vice presidents in 2010. In May 2012, as part of the incoming Ponta cabinet, he returned to head the Communications Ministry, vowing to dismiss some 300 administrative staff and 90 of 100 managers at Poşta Română. At December's parliamentary election, he won a new seat in the Chamber with 75.4% of the vote, and was subsequently renamed as Communications Minister. By the time a new Ponta cabinet was created in early 2013, Nica was already on the PSD's electoral lists for the May European Parliament election, and opted against continuing in government—the only minister from his party to do so. At the election, he won a seat as an MEP. Subsequently, the
National Anticorruption Directorate The National Anticorruption Directorate (), formerly National Anticorruption Prosecution Office (), is the Romanian agency tasked with preventing, investigating and prosecuting Political corruption, corruption-related offenses (such as bribery, g ...
placed him under investigation for abuse of office as part of the Microsoft licensing corruption scandal. His case was closed in 2018, as the 10-year statute of limitations had expired. He was returned to the European Parliament in 2019. Nica is married and has one child.Profile at the Romanian Government site
; accessed July 2, 2009
Along with holding several prizes for his government and technical work, he has been a Knight of the
Order of the Star of Romania The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: ''Ordinul Steaua României'') is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the Order of Michael the Brave. It is the oldest Order of Romania. It is awarded by the Preside ...
since 2002. He is a
philatelist Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. While closely associated with stamp collecting and the study of postage, it is possible ...
. Ionuţ Fantaziu
"Fabrica de timbre tipăreşte pentru colecţionari" ("Stamp Factory Prints for Collectors")
''Evenimentul Zilei'', 17 May 2009; accessed October 22, 2013


Notes


External links


Official site

Profile at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nica, Dan 1960 births Deputy prime ministers of Romania Knights of the Order of the Star of Romania Living people Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) MEPs for Romania 2014–2019 MEPs for Romania 2019–2024 People from Panciu Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iași alumni Academic staff of the University of Galați Romanian engineers Ministers of communications of Romania Ministers of interior of Romania Romanian philatelists Romanian science writers Social Democratic Party (Romania) politicians MEPs for Romania 2024–2029