Traian Băsescu

Traian Băsescu (born 4 November 1951) is a Romanian conservative politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014.

His brother, Mircea (born 1953), was charged with influence peddling (in exchange for €250,000 he promised freedom to his godson Florin Anghel, an underworld member).

He was sentenced to four years in prison only after his brother's mandate ended.

Băsescu graduated from the Naval Institute of Constanța in 1976 and became a merchant marine deck officer at Navrom, the Romanian state-owned shipping company.

Băsescu and his wife Maria have two daughters: Ioana (born 1977), a notary, and Elena (born 1980), a Romanian former MEP.

Between 1981 and 1987, he served as captain on Romanian commercial ships.

Throughout his career, questions have been raised about Băsescu's links to the Securitate, the security services of the communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu.

However, Băsescu has claimed that his links with the former Securitate were minimal, though some contact was obligatory at the time for somebody working abroad in a senior position.

The most controversial episode of his professional career began on 10 September 1981 in the French port Rouen, when a fire started around the Romanian tanker Argeș, then under the command of Traian Băsescu, affecting a large portion of the River Seine.

The fire destroyed two tugs and six barges, and major disaster was avoided when 70 French firemen from Rouen, Gran-Couronne, Grand-Quevily, Canteleu and Moulineaux prevented the fire from reaching the nearby Shell refinery.

In 1984, he was promoted to Captain of the oil tanker Biruința, the largest ship of the then Romanian commercial fleet.

In 1989, Băsescu moved to Belgium to head the Navrom Agency in Antwerp.

Băsescu was a member of the Communist Party before 1989.

After the downfall of Communism, he claimed that he joined the PCR to promote his career in the merchant marines.

In a letter published in Romanian newspapers, former president Emil Constantinescu alleged that Băsescu was in the second tier of the Communist Party leadership during the regime of former communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu, but had managed to portray himself as anti-communist.

During an interview Traian Băsescu admitted that before 1989 he smuggled jeans and other goods.

A former communist official, a director of a firm that was receiving the goods transported by Traian Băsescu by ship, said on Antena 3 TV that without payment of a bribe Traian Băsescu refused to bring the goods in the country.

Băsescu entered politics after the 1989 Romanian Revolution, as a member of the large National Salvation Front (FSN) party.

Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, and as Mayor of Bucharest from 2000 to 2004.

In April 1991, he became Minister of Transport in Petre Roman's Cabinet, and continued to hold this position during Theodor Stolojan's "Cabinet of technocrats" between September 1991 – November 1992.

In 1992, after the FSN split into two factions—the Social Democratic Party of Romania (PDSR, later PSD), led by Ion Iliescu, and the Democratic Party (PD), led by Petre Roman, Băsescu joined the PD faction.

In 1992, he was elected to the lower house of the Romanian Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, then re-elected for the 1996–2000 term.

Concurrently with his second term in Parliament, from November 1996 to June 2000, Băsescu also served as Minister of Transport in the center-right governments of Victor Ciorbea, Radu Vasile, and Mugur Isărescu.

In December 1997, he gave an interview to Claudiu Săftoiu of the newspaper Evenimentul Zilei, in which he accused Prime Minister Victor Ciorbea of not implementing enough reforms, although Ciorbea was accused by the Socialist opposition of being excessively reformist.

This became the first episode in an open dispute within the ruling center-right coalition, a dispute that eventually led to Democratic Party ministers, including Băsescu, resigning from the cabinet, which, in turn, led to Ciorbea's resignation.

According to an interview given by Traian Băsescu to the Romanian TV channel Prima TV on 23 June 1998 (and quoted by Magazin Nautic, the official publication of the Romanian Nautical Club), Băsescu admitted to having made alterations to the ship's installation before the French investigators were allowed to come on board, a thing that — in Băsescu's own words — made it impossible for the investigators to link the cause of the disaster to the Romanian ship.

Subsequently, in 1998, Băsescu resumed his previous ministerial position in the new cabinet headed by Radu Vasile.

During his tenure as Minister of Transportation, Băsescu oversaw the privatization of Romania's merchant fleet.

Additionally, he was elected as leader of the Democratic Party (PD) in 2001.

During his term as leader of the PD, the party formed the Justice and Truth Alliance (DA) with the National Liberal Party (PNL).

Băsescu's father, Dumitru (d. 2002), was an army officer.

Following Theodor Stolojan's withdrawal from the presidential elections in 2004, Băsescu entered the presidential race on behalf of the alliance.

After being elected president, he suspended his PD membership; Romanian law does not permit the incumbent president to be a member of a political party.

In 2007, during his presidency, Romania acceded to the European Union (EU).

He is the only president of Romania to have been suspended by the parliament twice, in 2007 and 2012.

A former member of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR), he has promoted social conservative and populist policies during his administration.

Traian Băsescu was born in Basarabi (renamed Murfatlar in 2007), near the port city of Constanța, the largest Romanian port on the Black Sea.

He was subsequently re-elected in 2009.

After ending his presidential term, in 2015, Băsescu joined the People's Movement Party (PMP), of which he became president in 2016, subsequently resigning in 2018.

He currently serves as Member of the European Parliament for Romania (since 2019).