Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu (; born 22 September 1968) is a Romanian historian, politician who served as

Prime Minister of Romania The prime minister of Romania (), officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania (), is the head of the Government of Romania, Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled ''President of the Council of Ministers'' (), when ...

in 2012. He was the

foreign minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

of Romania from 28 December 2004 to 12 March 2007, and he was appointed as Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service later in 2007. Following the resignation of the Emil Boc government he was appointed prime minister serving through April 2012 when his cabinet was dismissed following a parliamentary vote of

no-confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a Motion (parliamentary procedure), motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typi ...

. He was confirmed by the Parliament for a second term as Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, after President

Klaus Iohannis Klaus Werner Iohannis (; ; born 13 June 1959) is a Romanian politician, physicist, and former teacher who served as the fifth president of Romania from 2014 until his resignation in 2025. Prior to entering Politics of Romania, national politics, ...

nominated him in June 2015 but he resigned in September 2016, citing health issues.

Education

Ungureanu studied Maths and Physics at the Costache Negruzzi High School in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

, where he graduated

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

in 1987. Ungureanu later studied History and Philosophy at the

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University 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 ...

where he graduated in 1992. From 1985 to 1989, Ungureanu was an alternate member of the

Union of Communist Youth The Union of Communist Youth ( Romanian: '; UTC) was the Romanian Communist Party's youth organisation. Like many Young Communist organisations, it was modelled after the Soviet Komsomol. It aimed to cultivate young cadres into the party, as ...

Central Committee, while between 1990 and 1992 he was a member of the university senate as a student representative. In 1993, Ungureanu obtained a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, an affiliated programme of St Cross College at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. In March 2004 he received a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree from the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University after submitting a thesis on the "Conversion and integration in the Romanian society in the early-modern era".''Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu, biography'', InfoPortal.ro. Retrieved on February 7, 2012.

Professional career

Ungureanu was an assistant professor at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University when he was recruited to the diplomatic service in 1998. He subsequently served as State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1998–2000), and was a Vienna-based representative of the

Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe The Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe was an institution aimed at strengthening peace, democracy, human rights and economy in the countries of South Eastern Europe from 1999 to 2008. It was replaced by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) ...

(2000–2004). A member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), part of the Justice and Truth Alliance (DA), Ungureanu became foreign minister after the candidate supported by the alliance,

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a Romanian politician who served as the president of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian minister of transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, ...

, won the presidential election. On February 2, 2007, Prime Minister

Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu (; born 14 January 1952) is a Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania, prime minister of Romania from 2004 to 2008. He was also president of the National Liberal Party (Romania), Na ...

requested Ungureanu's resignation because Ungureanu had failed to inform the government about the detention of two Romanian workers by coalition forces in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. On February 4, Ungureanu confirmed his resignation, Popescu-Tăriceanu said that Ungureanu would continue to act as foreign minister until the swearing in of a successor. On March 12, President

signed a decree removing Ungureanu from his position.

Foreign Information Service tenure

On November 27, 2007, Băsescu nominated Ungureanu to head the Foreign Information Service (SIE), the directorship of which had been vacant since Claudiu Săftoiu's March 19 resignation, related to the same scandal in Iraq. A joint session of Parliament confirmed Ungureanu in his new position on December 5, with 295 of 318 MPs present voting in favour.

Prime minister

On February 6, 2012, Ungureanu was given a mandate by President

to form a new government, which the Romanian parliament approved on February 9, 2012. Ungureanu vowed to continue reforms and promote Romania's economic and political stability amid the country's political crisis. As prime minister, Ungureanu had become the Democratic Liberal Party's probable candidate for the presidency when Băsescu's term expired in 2014, senior party members said, a move echoing

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

's President

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

's choice and promotion of

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

. After two and a half months, Ungureanu's cabinet failed to pass a no-confidence vote introduced by the Social Liberal Union. Opposition leader

Victor Ponta Victor Viorel Ponta (; born 20 September 1972) is a Romanian politician and jurist who served as Prime Minister of Romania from 2012 to 2015. He was president of the Social Democratic Party (Romania), Social Democratic Party (PSD) from 2010 to ...

on 7 May 2012 replaced him as prime minister.''Romania profile'', BBC News, 11 July 2012
Retrieved: 24 July 2012.

After prime ministership

The political activity of Ungureanu after the premiership was intensive. In July 2012, he founded the non-governmental organization of Center-Right Civic Initiative (ICCD), together with PDL leaders Cristian Preda and Monica Macovei. He spoke about a political and electoral forces, without PNL. The alliance was founded in late August 2012 and include Democratic Liberal Party (PDL),

Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party The Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (, PNȚCD) is an agrarianism, agrarian and Christian democracy, Christian democratic list of political parties in Romania, political party in Romania. It claims to be the rightful successor of t ...

(PNȚCD), New Republic Party and Center-Right Civic Initiative. On 31 August, Ungureanu joined Civic Force (FC).

Civic Force leadership

Ungureanu was elected the Head of the party during The Civic Force party congress in September 2012. Civic Force Party (PFC) became the "electoral vehicle" of ICCD and replaced the ONG in Right Romania Alliance (ARD) membership. After the election, Ungureanu started a European tournee for the accession of PFC to

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...

(EPP). On 11 September, he met with the Italian deputy and member of

The People of Freedom The People of Freedom (, PdL) was a centre-right political party in Italy. The PdL launched by Silvio Berlusconi as an electoral list, including and National Alliance, on 27 February for the 2008 Italian general election. The list was later t ...

(PdL), Claudio Scajola, the Mayor of Rome and

Giovanni Battista Re Giovanni Battista Re (born 30 January 1934) is an Catholic Church in Italy, Italian Catholic prelate who has served as Dean of the College of Cardinals since 2020. He was elevated to the rank of Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal in 2001 and s ...

, secretary of

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

. They welcomed the formation of "an alliance of right in the opposition of left attacks". Ungureanu reorganized the party, founding new branches of the PFC around the country. He has held discussions with the former Italian Prime Minister,

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

, the President of EPP,

Wilfried Martens Wilfried Achiel Emma Martens (; 19 April 1936 – 9 October 2013) was a Belgian politician who served as prime minister of Belgium from 1979 to 1981 and from 1981 to 1992. A member of the Flemish Christian Democratic and Flemish, Christian People ...

, the Secretary-General of PdL,

Angelino Alfano Angelino Alfano (; born 31 October 1970) is an Italian former politician who served as Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 12 December 2016 to 1 June 2018. Alfano was Italian Minister of the Interior, Minister o ...

, the Secretary-General of Union for a Popular Movement,

Jean-François Copé Jean-François Copé (; born 5 May 1964) is a French politician serving as Mayor of Meaux since 1995 with an interruption from 2002 to 2005. He was Government Spokesman between 2002 and 2007, when assumed other tenures in the government—inclu ...

, and the leader of EPP europarliamentary group, Joseph Daul on the accession of Civic Force at EPP. According to him, the accession folder of the party was accepted and FC started the accession process. Ungureanu won a seat in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

on ARD's party list in the 2012 elections.

Personal life

Ungureanu is married and has one son. He is fluent in three foreign languages ( English, French, and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

) and he also reads Hungarian.

References

External links

Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu: "Viata mea este o inlantuire de intalniri fericite

Cum au ÎNSTRĂINAT Traian Băsescu și Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu TEZAURUL României rușilor

, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ungureanu, Mihai-Razvan 1968 births Living people Diplomats from Iași Politicians from Iași Costache Negruzzi National College alumni Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni Alumni of St Cross College, Oxford Academic staff of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University Directors of the Foreign Intelligence Service (Romania) National Liberal Party (Romania) politicians Prime ministers of Romania Ministers of foreign affairs of Romania