| Sen. Mircea Geoană | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office December 19, 2008 |
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| Preceded by | Ilie Sârbu |
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| Constituency | 17 (Dăbuleni) |
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| In office 1996 – December 28, 2000 |
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| In office December 28, 2000 – December 28, 2004 |
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| Preceded by | Petre Roman |
| Succeeded by | Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu |
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| Born | July 14, 1958 Bucharest, Romania |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party |
| Website | http://www.mirceageoana.ro/ |
Mircea Geoana (born July 14, 1958 in Bucharest) is a Romanian politician, and the current president of the upper chamber of the Romanian Parliament, the Senate. Since 21 April 2005 he has been the head of the Partidul Social Democrat (PSD, Social Democratic Party), one of Romania's largest parties. He is the candidate of the party for the position of President of Romania in the upcoming elections.
History
From December 28, 2000 to December 28, 2004, Geoana was the Foreign Minister of Romania, as part of the PSD government of Adrian Năstase. After the Romanian legislative elections of 2004, he was replaced by Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu from the Justice and Truth Alliance.
In 2001, Geoana was the chairman of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. In 2004, during the local government elections in Romania, he ran for Mayor of Bucharest, but lost to Traian Băsescu of the Democratic Party.
A career diplomat, from 1996 to 2000 Geoana served as Romania's ambassador to the United States. At the time, he was the youngest ambassador in Romania's diplomatic corps.
Considered a young reformer, Geoana was elected president of the party on April 25, 2005 by delegates at a PSD Party Congress held in Bucharest. His victory represented a surprise defeat for the former President and founder of the PSD Ion Iliescu, who was expected to defeat Geoana handily. Geoana's win was attributed by the media to last minute backroom dealing by party leaders opposed to Iliescu as well as to public gaffes made by Iliescu at the Party Congress, including using the term comrades when referring to his party colleagues.[citation needed] Iliescu also used harsh language to criticize Geoana, saying that Geoana acted "like a foolish person" during a meeting of the PSD sentators in 2005. Iliescu was referring to Geoană's stance before the 2004 presidential run-off, when Geoană declared that the Hungarian minority party, UDMR, will join a PSD-led government. According to Iliescu's analysis, this declaration alienated the Romanian ultra-nationalist electorate who voted for Traian Băsescu, thus costing Adrian Năstase the 2004 presidential election.[1] Due to this remark of Iliescu, the characterization "foolish" was used by Geoană's political opponents repeatedly in his later career, as a form of negative campaign. For instance, during the 2009 presidential run-off with Traian Băsescu, the latter used banners with his own image splattered with black paint reading "Banner ruined by the foolish person. Don't let the foolish person ruin your life."[2]
At the PSD Congress on December 10, 2006, Geoana was re-elected as party President, with his platform, "Social Romania", defeating Sorin Oprescu's.
He is married to Mihaela Geoana and has a teenage daughter and son - Ana and Alexandru.
References
- ^ (Romanian) Adevarul, 1 Martie 2005, Mircea Geoana s-a purtat ca un prostanac intre cele doua tururi de scrutin
- ^ (Romanian) "Panouri distruse de prostanac", la Ploiesti
External Links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Category:Mircea Geoană |
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