Teodor Viorel Meleșcanu (; born 10 March 1941) is a Romanian politician, diplomat, and jurist. He served as Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Romania (SIE) between 2012 and 2014. He was a three times

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

on behalf of the National Liberal Party (PNL),

Minister of Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

between 2007 and 2008, and

Minister of Foreign Affairs 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 foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

between 1992 and 1996, in November 2014 and since January 2017 to July 2019. On 27 February 2012, upon his appointment as head of the SIE, he suspended himself from PNL and was later expelled from the party. On 10 September 2019, he was elected

President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the Speaker (politics), speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's Order of succession, succes ...

. He resigned from office on 3 February 2020.

Life and career

Born in Brad,

Hunedoara County Hunedoara County () is a county (''județ'') of Romania, in Transylvania, with its capital city at Deva, Romania, Deva. The county is part of the Danube–Criș–Mureș–Tisa Euroregion. Name In Hungarian language, Hungarian, it is known as , ...

, he was baptized in the town's

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; , ), or Romanian Patriarchate, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates in the Eastern Orthodox Church. S ...

church. Around the age of five, he left for

Buteni Buteni () is a commune in Arad County, Romania. The river Crișul Alb The Crișul Alb (Romanian language, Romanian), (Hungarian language, Hungarian: Fehér-Körös) is a river in western Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania, and ...

, his grandparents' village, located near the Crișul Alb River. Meleșcanu then studied at Moise Nicoară National College in Arad. He graduated from the Faculty of Law of the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...

in 1964 and the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public university, public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by French theologian John Calvin as a Theology, theological seminary. It rema ...

in 1968. In 1973, he obtained a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in political science and international law from the University of Geneva and the

Graduate Institute of International Studies Graduate may refer to: Education * The subject of a graduation, i.e. someone awarded an academic degree ** Alumni, a former student who has either attended or graduated from an institution * High school graduate, someone who has completed hi ...

. Between 1966 and 1990 he held various diplomatic functions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In August 1990 he was named undersecretary of state in this ministry. Between November 1992 and November 1996 he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs in

Nicolae Văcăroiu Nicolae Văcăroiu (; born 5 December 1943) is a Romanian politician, member of the Social Democratic Party (Romania), Social Democratic Party (PSD), who served as Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister between 1992 and 1996. Before the Rom ...

's Party of Social Democracy (PDSR)

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. In 1996 he campaigned as an independent for election to 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 ...

from the

Prahova County Prahova County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Ploiești. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 762,886 and the population density was 161/k ...

electoral district. He was elected to that body, becoming president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate of Romania in the 1996–2000 legislature. In 1997, Meleșcanu founded the Alliance for Romania (''Alianța pentru România'') party, together with several former members of the PDSR ( Mircea Coșea, Iosif Boda, and others). He was elected president of this party in December 1997 and re-elected in March 2001. In January 2002, in the wake of the Alliance for Romania's merger with the PNL, Meleșcanu became first vice-president of the latter party. Since 2004, he has been a Liberal senator for Prahova, also being a vice-president in the Permanent Bureau of the Senate. He is a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Bucharest, and has written a substantial number of works and scientific publications dealing with international law and diplomacy. On February 27, President

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, ...

appointed him for the SIE position vacant after the former director

Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu (; born 22 September 1968) is a Romanian historian, politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania in 2012. He was the foreign minister of Romania from 28 December 2004 to 12 March 2007, and he was appointed as Directo ...

's ascension to the post of Prime Minister. In 2013 he was awarded Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. In November 2014, following the resignation of Titus Corlățean as a result of problems with voting in the

Romanian diaspora The Romanian diaspora is the Romanians, ethnically Romanian population outside Romania and Moldova. The concept does not usually include the ethnic Romanians who live as natives in nearby states, chiefly those Romanians who live in Ukraine, Hun ...

during the first round of that year's

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

, Meleșcanu was appointed foreign minister. He resigned eight days later, after similar problems took place during the second round. After his resignation, he joined the advisory board of the Fourth Ponta Cabinet regarding security and defense affairs. After Ponta was replaced by

Dacian Cioloș Dacian Julien Cioloș (; born 27 July 1969) is a Romanian Agronomy, agronomist who served as Prime Minister of Romania from November 2015 to January 2017. He previously served as Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Rural Development (Romania), A ...

, he was dismissed and joined ALDE. In January 2018 he became again

Foreign Minister of Romania The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs () is the ministry responsible for external affairs of the Government of Romania, Romanian Government. The current foreign minister is Emil Hurezeanu. List of ministers of foreign affairs (1862–1989) ...

, this time in

Dăncilă Cabinet The Dăncilă Cabinet was the 128th Government of Romania. It was led by Viorica Dăncilă, who assumed office as Prime Minister of Romania along with her cabinet on 29 January 2018. Led by Viorica Dăncilă, this cabinet was constituted and sup ...

. After thousands of Romanians living abroad have experienced difficulties in expressing their vote in the 2019 European Parliament election, Meleșcanu has been accused of premeditated abuse and obstruction of their right to vote. On 6 June 2019, The National Anticorruption Directorate (Romanian: Direcţia Naţională Anticorupţie (DNA)) announced that it has launched a criminal investigation in the matter. Meleșcanu is a Member of the Advisory Board of th
Global Panel Foundation
based in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, which works

behind-the-scenes https://www Googlefinans.co= In filmmaking, behind-the-scenes (BTS), also known as the making-of, the set, or on the set, is a documentary film that features the production of a film or television program. This is often referred to as the EPK ( ...

in conflict areas around the world.

Scientific activity

Apart from his diplomatic and political activity, Teodor Melescanu also did a didactic activity. He teaches as a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the

, the Department of International Relations, being a holder of the courses "Public International Law", "European Security" and "The Principles and Practice of Diplomacy". He also teaches the "International Negotiation Theory and Practice" course at the Masters of the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Bucharest and the course "Public International Law" at the Masters Courses of the Faculty of History of the University of Bucharest. Meleşcanu published a wide range of scientific papers and publications related to international law and diplomacy. He is the vice-president of the Association of International Law and International Relations (ADIRI) in Bucharest, a member of the Institute for Political Studies in Bucharest and of the Romanian Institute of International Studies (IRSI).

Personal life

Meleșcanu was married to Felicia Meleșcanu, a jurist and

Romanian Television Televiziunea Română (), more commonly referred to as TVR , is the short name for Societatea Română de Televiziune ("Romanian Television Society"; SRTV), the Romanian public television. It operates nine channels: TVR 1, TVR 2, TVR 3, TV ...

(TVR) journalist, until her death in January 2004.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Notes

External links

* *
Teodor Meleșcanu's CV at the PNL site
*
Teodor Meleșcanu
on the site of the

Chamber of Deputies of Romania The Chamber of Deputies () is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 312 regular seats to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote using party-list proportional representation to serve four-year terms. Additionally, ...

, - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Melescanu, Teodor 1941 births Candidates for President of Romania Commanders with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies alumni Living people Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church Presidents of the Senate of Romania National Liberal Party (Romania) politicians People from Brad, Hunedoara Romanian jurists Ministers of defence of Romania Ministers of foreign affairs of Romania Social Democratic Party (Romania) politicians University of Bucharest alumni Academic staff of the University of Bucharest University of Geneva alumni Moise Nicoară National College alumni