Constantin Niță (born November 27, 1955) 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 economist and politician. A member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(PSD), he has been a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for

Brașov County Brașov County () is a county (județ) of Transylvania, Romania. Its capital city is Brașov. The county incorporates within its boundaries most of the Medieval "lands" (''țări'') Burzenland and Făgăraș. Name In Hungarian language, Hungari ...

since 2000. In the Emil Boc cabinet, he was Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises, Commerce and Business Environment from 2008 to 2009. He is married and has one child.Profile at the Romanian Government site
; retrieved May 19, 2009

Biography

He was born in Miroslovești,

Iași County Iași County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia, with the administrative seat at Iași. It is the most populous county in Romania, after the Municipality of Bucharest (which has the same administrative level as that of a cou ...

, attended primary school there, and completed secondary studies at Theoretical High School no. 1 in

Pașcani Pașcani () is a city in Iași County in the Western Moldavia region of Romania, on the Siret river. , it has a population of 30,766. Five villages are administered by the city: Blăgești, Boșteni, Gâstești, Lunca, and Sodomeni. The city der ...

in 1973. Following

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

service (1973-1974), he studied Industrial Economics at the

University of Iași The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in , Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former was converted to a university, the University of , as it was named ...

, graduating in 1978. From that year until 1983 he studied law at the same institution. He took a post-graduate course in foreign trade from 1983 to 1984, and from 1995 to 1999 worked on a doctorate at Iași, earning one in Marketing. He has taken additional courses in

Lugoj Lugoj (; ; ; ; ; ) is a list of cities and towns in Romania, city in Timiș County, Romania. The Timiș, Timiș River divides the city into two halves: the "Romanian Lugoj" that spreads on the right bank, and the "German Lugoj" on the left bank. Th ...

and

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, and from 1998 to 2001 taught at the Transylvania University of Brașov; since 2001, he has taught Marketing at the George Barițiu University of Brașov. Niță has co-written five books on marketing and tourism, written one, and published over 50 articles in specialty magazines. His first job was as an economist from 1978 to 1983; he headed the export division at a truck factory in

Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...

. From 1983 to 1986 he was also an economist at a motor vehicle import-export firm in Brașov, and from 1986 to 1993 headed a travel agency in that city. From 1990 to 1993 he was director of the Pîrîul Rece resort there, and from 1993 to 1997 he led an agency coordinating protocol visits to the

Prahova Valley Prahova Valley (Romanian: ''Valea Prahovei'') is the valley where the Prahova river makes its way between the Bucegi and the Baiu Mountains, in the Carpathian Mountains, Romania. It is a tourist region, situated about north of the capital c ...

. From 1997 to 2000 he directed another Brașov travel agency. He belongs to a number of civic associations in his adopted city. From 1994 to 1997, Niță was vice president of the Brașov organisation of the PDSR, predecessor to the PSD. In 1997, he became head of the Brașov County PSD chapter and joined the party's national council.Profile at the Brașov County PSD site
; retrieved May 19, 2009 He also sat on the party's executive bureau from 1998 to 2004, and was elected one of its vice presidents in 2010. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

.Profile at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site
retrieved May 19, 2009 In the Chamber, he was secretary on the permanent bureau in 2000-2003 and vice president in 2003-2004; among his assignments was as vice president of the joint parliamentary committee providing oversight to the activities of '' Serviciul Român de Informații'' (2004-2007). He drew attention for claiming boarding expenses of 832 million lei (some $26,000) in 2002, equal to at least 492 days at a hotel. Also that year, his name appeared on recordings of telephone conversations held by Sicilian

Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

bosses, who referred to him as being linked to their representative in Romania; Iulian Rinder
"Confruntare în colegiul milionarilor" ("Confrontation in the Millionaires' College")
''România Liberă'', 26 November 2008; retrieved May 19, 2009 Niță categorically denied having links to the Mafia and sued former

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 ...

Emil Constantinescu Emil Constantinescu (; born 19 November 1939) is a Romanian professor and politician, who served as the President of Romania, from 1996 to 2000. After the Romanian Revolution, Romanian Revolution of 1989, Constantinescu became a founding member ...

for making the transcripts public. He was named to the Boc cabinet in December 2008,"Guvern de regățeni, cu 'moț' ardelean" ("Old Kingdom Government, with a Few Transylvanians")
, ''Adevărul'', 19 December 2008; retrieved May 19, 2009 delegating his Brașov party duties to others. As minister, Niță predicted that nearly 40% of Romania's small and medium-sized businesses could go bankrupt due to the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

; his priorities included unfreezing credits for them, simplifying their paperwork for obtaining

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

grants and devoting 0.4% of GDP to helping them and creating jobs there, and restructuring his ministry. Together with his PSD colleagues, Niță resigned from the cabinet on October 1, 2009, in protest at the dismissal of vice prime minister and Interior Minister Dan Nica. In April 2016, Niță's term as Brașov County PSD president expired and he opted not to run again. At the same time, he quit his posts within the national party and announced he would not seek another term in the Chamber at the autumn election. In May 2017, Niță was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for influence peddling. Alexandra Stroe
"Fostul ministru Constantin Niță, condamnat la patru ani de închisoare cu executare" ("Former Minister Constantin Niță, Sentenced to Four Years' Imprisonment")
Mediafax, 26 May 2017; accessed May 26, 2016

Notes

External links

Profile at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nita, Constantin Academic staff of the Transilvania University of Brașov Romanian economists Social Democratic Party (Romania) politicians Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) People from Iași County Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni 1955 births Living people