Raluca Turcan (; (); 2 April 1976) 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 politician. A member of the
National Liberal Party (PNL), she has been a member of the
Romanian Chamber of Deputies for
Sibiu County
Sibiu County () is a county () of Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Its county seat () is the namesake town of Sibiu ().
Name
In Hungarian, it is known as ''Szeben megye'', and in German as ''Kreis Hermannstadt''. Under the ...
since 2004.
She has been married to
Valeriu Turcan, a former adviser to
Romanian President
The president of Romania () is the head of state of Romania. The president is directly elected by a two-round system, and, following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, serves for five years. An individual may serve two ter ...
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, ...
, since 2004. The couple have a son, Eric, born in 2007.
Biography
She was born in
Botoșani
Botoșani () is the capital city of Botoșani County, in the northern part of Moldavia, Romania. Today, it is best known as the birthplace of many celebrated Romanians, including Mihai Eminescu, Nicolae Iorga and Grigore Antipa.
Origin of the ...
to Dumitru and Maria-Margareta Tatarcan; her father is a high school principal. She studied in the Faculty of International Economic Relations at the
Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, graduating in 1999. She was also enrolled at
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
's Pushkin Institute from 1996 to 1999, and earned a degree in business
Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
from there. In 2006, she began work on a master's degree in political marketing at the
National School of Administration and Political Science of Bucharest, and that year she also began a doctorate at the
Transylvania University of Braşov. She has also pursued studies in
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
and in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. From 1999 to 2000, she worked as a public relations consultant for Tofan Grup, an automobile tyre distributor. She was then a parliamentary expert at the
Romanian Senate from 2000 to 2004, and from 2000 to 2006 was an associated professor at Transylvania University and at the
Romanian-German University of Sibiu.
[Curriculum vitae at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site]
accessed 5 May 2009
Turcan began her political career in 2000, as an adviser to the president of the National Council of the
National Liberal Party (PNL). In 2002, she moved on to become an adviser to PNL President
Theodor Stolojan
Theodor Dumitru Stolojan (; born 24 October 1943) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from September 1991 to November 1992. An economist by training, he was also one of the presidents of the National Liberal Party (PNL) be ...
, which she remained until 2004. That year, which saw her
elected to Parliament, she joined the PNL's national leadership council, remaining until 2006. After being ejected from the PNL, she and fellow party dissidents
Valeriu Stoica
Valeriu Stoica (; born 1 October 1953, Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania) 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 t ...
and
Cristian Boureanu joined the Stolojan-founded
Liberal Democratic Party (PLD), serving as its vice president from March until December 2007. At that point, the party merged with the Democratic Party and Turcan became vice president of the new formation, the PDL.
She was
re-elected in 2008. While in the Chamber, she has served on several committees, and has twice been president of the Committee on Culture, Arts and Mass Media (2005–2006; since 2008). At the
2012 election, she placed second in her district, but won another term through the redistribution mechanism specified by the electoral law. Following the PNL's loss in the
2016 election and the resignation of its president
Alina Gorghiu, Turcan served as interim party leader, until the election of
Ludovic Orban on a permanent basis. In May 2019, following the vacancy left by the incarceration of
Liviu Dragnea, she ran for
Chamber President, losing to
Marcel Ciolacu 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). She was
Deputy Prime Minister of Romania from November 2019 to December 2020 and
Minister of Labour and Social Protection from December 2020 to November 2021.
Controversies
Turcan has worked with civil society groups focusing on mass media, free expression, human rights and health. She has co-authored an English-Russian-Romanian dictionary of economic terms, as well as the book ''Integrare şi politică fiscală europeană'' ("Integration and European Fiscal Policy"). Additionally, she has published studies on
European integration
European integration is the process of political, legal, social, regional and economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union ...
and public relations.
During her career in politics, Turcan has been the subject of some controversy. After
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 ...
became PNL President and
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 2004, her public criticisms of the party began to increase, so that in July 2006, the party gave her a warning, to which she responded that she would continue making similar statements. She kept her word, and the party expelled her that September. Continuing to attack Tăriceanu, she was at the forefront of a group of PD-L deputies who in March 2008 asked prosecutors to investigate the prime minister for abuse of office and corruption in his attempts to impose an automobile tax (he has links to the industry), and, a year later, before Tăriceanu lost the PNL presidency, declared a united right-wing party encompassing the PD-L and the PNL could be formed if he and a few people around him left the PNL. Shortly after her expulsion, she complained of "a trio monopolising the party, made up of Tăriceanu,
Olteanu and
Orban
Orban, also known as Urban (; died 1453), was an iron founder and engineer from Brassó, Transylvania, in the Kingdom of Hungary (today Brașov, Romania), who cast large-calibre artillery, Basilic, for the siege of Constantinople by the Otto ...
, which has practically confiscated it and eliminates anyone who dares share a point of view different from theirs". By contrast, she has been a public supporter of Băsescu, whom she notes shares the PD-L's objectives, and
whose suspension she called "a serious abuse". She also predicted that then-PNL leader
Crin Antonescu would lose to Băsescu at the
2009 election and noted the party risked marginalisation if it continued its anti-Băsescu strategy. Turcan supports modifying the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed.
When these pri ...
in order to enhance presidential powers to those found in a consolidated
semi-presidential system
A semi-presidential republic, or dual executive republic, is a republic in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature of the state. It differs from a parliament ...
.
["Raluca Turcan: Prin modificarea Constituţiei preşedintele trebuie să devină principalul factor al puterii executive" ("Raluca Turcan: Through Constitutional Modification, the President Should Become the Chief Executive Actor")]
''Ziua'', 30 January 2009; accessed 5 May 2009
References
External links
Official siteProfile at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turcan, Raluca
1976 births
Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies alumni
Democratic Liberal Party (Romania) politicians
Living people
Deputy prime ministers of Romania
Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania)
Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church
National Liberal Party (Romania) politicians
People from Botoșani
Academic staff of the Transilvania University of Brașov
Romanian public relations people
National University of Political Studies and Public Administration alumni
21st-century Romanian women politicians
21st-century Romanian politicians