Claudiu Crăciun (born 2 November 1978) is a Romanian academic, environmental and civic activist. A lecturer at the

National School of Political Science and Public Administration The National School of Political Science and Public Administration ( ro, Școala Națională de Studii Politice și Administrative din București, SNSPA) is a public university in Bucharest, Romania, founded in 1991. SNSPA is a public institutio ...

, Crăciun has been active in Romanian

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.2012 Romanian protests The 2012 Romanian protests were a series of protests and civil manifestations triggered by the introduction of new health reform legislation. In particular, President Traian Băsescu criticized the Deputy Minister of Health, Raed Arafat, on a ...

, the

2013 Romanian protests against the Roșia Montană Project The 2013 Romanian protests against the Roșia Montană Project were a series of protests in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and dozens of other cities in Romania and abroad against the Roșia Montană Project, Roșia Montană mining project. The proteste ...

and the protests against

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a pro ...

in 2015. He led a campaign to run as a candidate at the

2019 Romanian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Romania on 10 November 2019, with a second round held on 24 November 2019. Incumbent President of Romania Klaus Iohannis, first elected in 2014, was eligible for re-election. He defeated Viorica Dăncilă in the ...

, which collected 13 thousand signatures but failed to meet the threshold required by Romanian electoral law. He is the Secretary-General of the

Democracy and Solidarity Party The Democracy and Solidarity Party ( ro, Partidul Democrației și Solidarității), also known by its abbreviation and short name Demos, is a political party of Romania. History The Democracy and Solidarity Party has its origins in the autu ...

(Demos), founded in 2016 and registered in 2018.

Activism and protests

2012 Romanian protests

In January 2012, Crăciun was one of the people involved in the

2012 Romanian protests The 2012 Romanian protests were a series of protests and civil manifestations triggered by the introduction of new health reform legislation. In particular, President Traian Băsescu criticized the Deputy Minister of Health, Raed Arafat, on a ...

. When

Remus Cernea Remus Cernea (; born June 25, 1974) is a Romanian activist against discrimination based on faith and religion, an advocate of the separation of church and state and the founder of the ''Solidarity for Freedom of Conscience Association''. From 201 ...

began his collaboration with the Social-Democrats by participating to a demonstration organized by them, Crăciun resigned from the party, accusing Cernea of "the immorality of pretending to represent the protesters" and claiming that he was trying the politicization of the protests. Crăciun argued that he wanted to "reinvent the citizen" before "reinventing the politician".

2013 protests against the Roșia Montană Project

Crăciun was involved during the months-long 2013 protests as well, his level of involvement making the press to claim he was one of the "informal leaders" of the movement. In 2014 Craciun was one of the civic activists asking for a complete reform of the electoral system in Romania. In 2015 he was also active in the protests against illegal logging in Romania.

Creation of the Democracy and Solidarity Party

Crăciun is the Secretary-General of the

(Demos), which was started in 2015 as a platform and was made a political party on 15 September 2016. Demos was officially registered as one on 1 September 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craciun, Claudiu 1978 births Living people Academic staff of the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration Romanian political scientists Romanian human rights activists Romanian environmentalists University of Bucharest alumni Romanian socialist feminists