Emil Constantinescu () (born 19 November 1939) is a Romanian professor and politician, who served as the

President of Romania The president of Romania ( ro, Președintele României) is the head of state of Romania. Following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves for five years. An indi ...

, from 1996 to 2000. After the

Romanian Revolution of 1989 The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred i ...

, Constantinescu became a founding member and vice president of the Civic Alliance (AC). In addition, he also served as the acting president of the ''Democratic Romanian Anti-Totalitarian Forum'', the first associative structure of the democratic opposition in post-1989 Romania, which was later transformed into a

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...

political and electoral alliance known as the

Romanian Democratic Convention The Romanian Democratic Convention ( ro, Convenţia Democrată Română or Convenția Democratică Română; abbreviated CDR) was an electoral alliance of several democratic, anti-Communist, anti-totalitarian, and centre-right political parties i ...

(CDR).

Biography

Early life and education

Professional career

Political career and presidency

In 1992 the CDR, of which the PNȚ-CD was a member and most important constituent political party, nominated him as its candidate for

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

. He subsequently lost the election to then incumbent

Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as President of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, Iliescu ...

after the second round of the

1992 Romanian general election General elections were held in Romania on 27 September 1992, with a second round of the presidential election on 11 October. They were the first held after the adoption of a permanent constitution via a referendum held the previous winter. Incum ...

. In 1996, he competed once again for the presidency as the CDR's candidate and managed to defeat Iliescu in the second round, securing a victory by a margin of roughly 10%. CDR's success in the 1996 general election marked the first

peaceful transition of power A peaceful transition or transfer of power is a concept important to democratic governments in which the leadership of a government peacefully hands over control of government to a newly-elected leadership. This may be after elections or during t ...

in post-1989 Romania. On the day he took office, he suspended his membership from the PNȚ-CD, as the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

precludes a president holding formal membership of a political party during his term(s). Throughout his sole four-year term, Constantinescu struggled with the ineffective implementation of the processes of

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

, which, bogged down by excessive bureaucracy, increased unemployment and poverty in the short term. After another two

Mineriad The mineriads ( ro, mineriade) were a series of protests and often violent altercations by Jiu Valley miners in Bucharest during the 1990s, particularly 1990–91. The term "mineriad" is also used to refer to the most significant and violent of ...

s which took place in 1999 (one in January and the other in February), culminating with the arrest of Miron Cozma, the remainder of his term suffered a political crisis between the majority parties that, at the time, formed the governing coalition (i.e. CDR, PD, PSDR, and UDMR/RMDSZ). The country was further damaged by a drought in 2000. At the end of his term in 2000, he decided not to run for re-election, stating that the system had defeated him.

After the presidency

Constantinescu's presidency along with CDR's governance were marred by an economic recession. Despite this, his presidency has been eventually credited with putting an end to the

s, a reform of the banking system as well as with the attraction of the first major foreign investments in Romania after 1989. With dashed expectations of an immediate improvement in daily life, Romanians exhibited strong disillusionment with the major parties and politicians of the CDR at the end of the 1996–2000 legislature, with the

Greater Romania Party The Greater Romania Party ( ro, Partidul România Mare, PRM) is a Romanian nationalist political party. Founded in May 1991 by Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor, it was led by the latter from that point until his death in September 2015. The ...

(PRM) subsequently gaining the second place in the 2000 legislative election. A disenchanted Emil Constantinescu, who lost popularity and had failed to fulfil his reformist agenda announced on 17 July 2000 that he would not run for a second term. He temporarily withdrew from political life at the end of his term in November 2000. Constantinescu's direction in foreign affairs continued however after the comeback of

in 2000. Eventually, Romania joined NATO in 2004 and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

(EU) three years later, in 2007, alongside

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. The former president returned to the political scene in 2002 as head of the

People's Action People's Action is a national progressive advocacy and political organization in the United States made up of 40 organizations in 30 states. The group's stated goal is to "build the power of poor and working people, in rural, suburban, and urban ...

(AP; ''Acţiunea Populară'') party, which subsequently merged within the National Liberal Party (PNL) in 2008. Constantinescu has occasionally criticized the policies of the 2004–2014 president,

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 ...

, accusing him of authoritarian tendencies, and supported Crin Antonescu in the first round of the 2009 presidential elections. Nowadays, he still remains heavily involved in politics through working for many NGOs, both in Romania and internationally. Emil Constantinescu is the current president of the Association of Citizenship Education, of the Romanian Foundation for Democracy and also the founding president of the Institute for Regional Cooperation and Conflict Prevention (INCOR). A frequent speaker at the

Oslo Freedom Forum Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF) is a series of global conferences run by the New York-based non-profit Human Rights Foundation under the slogan "Challenging Power". OFF was founded in 2009 as a one-time event and has taken place annually ever since. On ...

, in 2010 he presented the OFF with a presidential medal. He is also a member of the international advisory council of the

Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) is a non-profit anti-communist organization in the United States, authorized by a unanimous Act of Congress in 1993 for the purpose of "educating Americans about the ideology, history and legacy ...

Honours and awards

National honours

* : ** Order of the Star of Romania, 1st Class ** Emblema de Onoare a Armatei României ("The Romanian Army's Badge of Honor") – 24 October 2012

Foreign honours

* :

Order of the White Rose of Finland The Order of the White Rose of Finland ( fi, Suomen Valkoisen Ruusun ritarikunta; sv, Finlands Vita Ros’ orden) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty, and the Order of the Lion of Finland. ...

(1998) * : Order of Merit of the Austrian Republic (1999) * : Order of St. Olav (1999) * : Order of the State of Republic of Turkey (1999) * : Order of the Elephant (2000) * : Grand Cross (or 1st Class) of the Order of the White Double Cross (2000) * : Grand Order of King Tomislav (2000) * : Honorary Knight of the Order of St Michael and St George (2000) * : Order of Prince Henry (2000) * :

Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise The Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise ( uk, Орден князя Ярослава Мудрого) is an award of Ukraine. It is awarded for distinguished services to the state and people of the Ukrainian nation in the field of state building, ...

(2000)

Electoral history

Presidential elections

External links

References

Bibliography

* Ion Alexandrescu, Stan Stoica, România după 1989. Mică enciclopedie, Editura Meronia, București, 2005 * Tom Gallagher, Furtul unei națiuni. România de la communism încoace, Editura Humanitas, București, 2004 * Dan Pavel, Iulia Huia, "Nu putem reuși decît împreună." O istorie analitică a Convenției Democratice, 1989–2000, Editura Polirom, Iași, 2003 {{DEFAULTSORT:Constantinescu, Emil 1939 births Living people Romanian people of Moldovan descent People from Bender, Moldova Presidents of Romania Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party politicians University of Bucharest alumni University of Bucharest faculty Rectors of the University of Bucharest Romanian geologists Eastern Orthodox Christians from Romania Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Recipients of the Grand Star of the Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria Recipients of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 1st class Grand Crosses of the Order of the Dannebrog Recipients of the Order of Michael the Brave First Class of the Order of the Star of Romania Mineriads