Adrian Severin (born 28 March 1954) is a Romanian politician and former

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

. Adrian Severin started his politics career under the Communist rule, as Instructor (''lector'') at

Ștefan Gheorghiu Academy The Ștefan Gheorghiu Academy (Romanian: ''Academia Ștefan Gheorghiu'', in full: ''Academia de învăţămînt social-politic Ștefan Gheorghiu de pe lîngă CC al PCR'' - approx. ''Ștefan Gheorghiu Academy for Socio-Political Education in Rel ...

, the university for Romanian Communist cadres. After the regime change, he became a member of the National Salvation Front and the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

(which he left in April 1999). Severin was the

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( ro, Ministerul Afacerilor Externe) is the ministry responsible for external affairs of the Romanian Government. The current Foreign Minister is Bogdan Aurescu. List of Ministers of Foreign Affairs (1 ...

between 12 December 1996 and 29 December 1997 as part of the

Victor Ciorbea Victor Ciorbea (; born on 26 October 1954) is a Romanian jurist, politician, and civil/public servant. He was the Mayor of Bucharest between 1996 and 1997 and, after his resignation from this public dignity/position, Prime Minister of Romania fr ...

cabinet. He sat in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

in June–July 1990 before resigning, and again was a member of that body from 1992 until December 2007, when he resigned. He is a member 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 For ...

, part of the

Group of the Party of European Socialists The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialist ...

, and became an MEP on 1 January 2007 with the

accession of Romania to the European Union On 1 January 2007, Bulgaria and Romania became member states of the European Union (EU) in the fifth wave of EU enlargement. Negotiations Romania was the first country of post-communist Europe to have official relations with the European Comm ...

. Previously, Severin served as the UN Special Rapporteur on

Human rights in Belarus The government of Belarus is criticized for its human rights violations and persecution of non-governmental organisations, independent journalists, national minorities, and opposition politicians. In a testimony to the United States Senate Com ...

from 2005 to 2006. He was member of

PACE Pace or paces may refer to: Business *Pace (transit), a bus operator in the suburbs of Chicago, US * Pace Airlines, an American charter airline *Pace Foods, a maker of a popular brand of salsa sold in North America, owned by Campbell Soup Compan ...

from 1993 till 1997 and from 2003 till 2007. In 2011 the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

opened a formal investigation into alleged corruption by Severin and two other MEPs, based on an investigation conducted by journalists of the Sunday Times weekly (part of The Times of London). The Romanian politician insisted he had done nothing that was "illegal or against any normal behavior". Mr. Severin is accused of accepting bribe in exchange for initiating some law amendment, and is recorded on video by the journalists when requesting and accepting the bribe. Subsequently, he was called by the Leader of the SD Group in the European Parliament to resign. As he refused, he was suspended from his position as Deputy-Leader of the SD Group and had to leave this Parliamentary Group. He was indicted by Romania's anti-corruption agency in September 2013 and in February 2016, a court sentenced him to three and a half years in prison, although he may still appeal the judgement. Although he was sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment for corruption, Adrian Severin ran at the 2016 local elections for the office of

Mayor of Bucharest The Mayor of Bucharest ( ro, Primarul General al Municipiului București), sometimes known as the General Mayor, is the head of the Bucharest City Hall in Bucharest, Romania, which is responsible for citywide affairs, such as the water system, the ...

on a Social Justice Party (whose chairman is

Marian Vanghelie Daniel Marian Vanghelie (born 1968 in Bucharest, Romania) is a Romanian politician, the former mayor of the 5th Sector of Bucharest (2000–2016) and a former member of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSD). He ran for a fifth term in 2016 ...

) ticket. He received 8234 votes (1.43%).

External links

European Parliament profileEuropean Parliament official photo

* Severin's reports on human rights in Belarus
2005 (E/CN.4/2005/35)2006 (E/CN.4/2006/36)2007 (A/HRC/4/16)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Severin, Adrian 1954 births Living people Politicians from Bucharest Democratic Liberal Party (Romania) politicians Social Democratic Party (Romania) politicians Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) Romanian Ministers of Foreign Affairs United Nations special rapporteurs University of Bucharest alumni Social Democratic Party (Romania) MEPs MEPs for Romania 2007 MEPs for Romania 2007–2009 MEPs for Romania 2009–2014 Romanian politicians convicted of corruption Romanian officials of the United Nations

See also

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References