Valentin Marian Ionescu (born September 3, 1961, in

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 ...

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 ...

) is a Romanian lawyer, former presidential advisor to the

President of Romania 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 ...

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 ...

(between September 5, 1997, and December 12, 1997) and subsequently Minister of Privatization (December 1997 - April 14, 1998).

Other career details

Ionescu graduated in 1991 from 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 ...

's Law School with a diploma thesis titled “Leasing Operations in International Trade”. In 1992, Ionescu became politically active in the Youth Organization of NPP-CD (National Peasants Party - Christian and Democrat). From January 1997 until his nomination as presidential advisor (September 1997), he was the President of the National Privatization Agency (NPA). In this capacity and later on as Minister of Privatization, Ionescu initiated several policies, such as the Leasing Act, Franchising Act, Commodity Exchange Act, Venture Capital Act, as a means to supporting the development and consolidation of the private sector in Romania. Moreover, he initiated the review of the entire privatization legal framework in the manufacturing industry and services, which is claimed to have given impetus to the denationalization of the economy between 1997 and 1999. After the setting up of the Cabinet headed by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Radu Vasile Radu Vasile (; 10 October 1942 – 3 July 2013) was a Romanian politician, historian, academic/professor, and poet. Originally a member of the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNȚ-CD), Vasile served as the Prime Minister of Romani ...

, Ionescu withdrew from the centre of political power. In 1999, Ionescu left the NPP-CD and became active in the URF (Union of the Rightist Forces). In 2000, after the conclusion of the alliance between URF and NPP-CD, Ionescu joined the National Liberal Party (NLP). He was a member of the Party leadership between September 2002 and February 2005. Since 2007, Ionescu has been a member of the PD-L (Democrat-Liberal Party).

References

General sources

* Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, between 1997 - 1998 (Romanian); * Romanian Newspapers, between 1997 - 2009 (Romanian); * National Liberal Party website (Romanian). {{DEFAULTSORT:Ionescu, Valentin 1961 births Living people University of Bucharest alumni Members of the Romanian Cabinet 20th-century Romanian lawyers National Liberal Party (Romania) politicians Politicians from Bucharest