Mircea Druc (born 25 July 1941, in Pociumbăuți,

Rîșcani District Rîșcani () is a district ( ro, raion) in the north-west of Moldova, with the administrative center at Rîșcani. The other major city is Costești. As of 1 January 2011, its population was 70,000. History Near the town Costești there are trac ...

) is a

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

n and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n politician who served as

Prime Minister of Moldova The Prime Minister of Moldova ( ro, Prim-ministrul Republicii Moldova) is Moldova's head of government. The Prime Minister is formally appointed by the President of Moldova and exercises executive power along with the cabinet, subject to parliam ...

between 26 May 1990 and 22 May 1991. He was appointed as Prime Minister after the opposition walked out from the Parliament, as a protest to the policies of the nationalist

Popular Front of Moldova The Popular Front of Moldova ( ro, Frontul Popular din Moldova) was a political movement in the Moldavian SSR, one of the 15 union republics of the former Soviet Union, and in the newly independent Moldova, Republic of Moldova. Formally, the Fron ...

.Alla Skvortsova, "The Cultural and Social Makeup of Moldova: A Bipolar or Dispersed Society", in Pal Kolsto (editor), ''National Integration and Violent Conflict in Post-Soviet Societies: The Cases of Estonia and Moldova'',

Rowman & Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...

, 2002, , pp. 185-187. His government purged non-Moldovans from cultural institutions and changed the outlook of the education system to be centred towards Romanian-language education, away from the Russian-centric education system of the Soviet era.Charles King. ''The Moldovans: Romania, Russia and the Politics of Culture'', Hoover Institution Press, 2000, . pp. 151-152 Street names and the symbols of the state were changed to show the Romanian heritage of Moldova. After revolts against the pro-Romanian discriminatory policy of the government spread in

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

and

Gagauzia Gagauzia or Gagauz-Yeri, or ; ro, Găgăuzia; russian: Гагаузия, Gagauziya officially the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia; ro, Unitatea Teritorială Autonomă Găgăuzia, ''UTAG''; russian: Автономное территор ...

, he threatened to unleash a civil war similar to that in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

and

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

. In May 1991, he was removed from his position after an overwhelming

vote of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

. After his dismissal he came under scrutiny for questionable financial dealings. He was also accused of promoting subjugation of the Russian speakers. When asked about the union with Romania, he answered that first, there need to be a few hundred Romanian-Moldovan

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

s and some tens of thousands of mixed marriages. He ran as an independent candidate with a single-issue platform of union of Romania and Moldova in the 1992 Romanian presidential election, receiving 326,866 votes (2.75%). Druc stayed in Romania, where he worked for the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

between 2001 and 2004. In 2004 he joined the nationalist

Greater Romania Party The Greater Romania Party ( ro, Partidul România Mare, PRM) is a Romanian nationalist political party. Founded in May 1991 by Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor, it was led by the latter from that point until his death in September 2015. The ...

. He is currently working at the Commerce and Industry Chamber of Romania, involved in projects for trans-border cooperation between Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. In the

2008 Romanian legislative election Legislative elections were held in Romania on 30 November 2008. The Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) won three more seats than PSD in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, although the alliance headed by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) won m ...

, Druc ran for a place in the Romanian Parliament in a constituency in

Suceava County Suceava County () is a county ('' ro, județ'') of Romania. Most of its territory lies in the southern part of the historical region of Bukovina, while the remainder forms part of Western Moldavia proper. The county seat is the historical town ...

, being a candidate of the Democratic Liberal Party."Fostul premier la Moldovei, candidat PD-L de Suceava"
, ''Evenimentul Zilei'', 10 September 2008

Electoral history

Romanian Presidential elections

External links

Mircea Druc's website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Druc, Mircea 1941 births Living people Anti-Russification activists People from Rîșcani District Eastern Orthodox Christians from Romania Moldova State University alumni Saint Petersburg State University alumni Romanian people of Moldovan descent Candidates for President of Romania Democratic Liberal Party (Romania) politicians Greater Romania Party politicians National Patriotic Front (Moldova) politicians Prime Ministers of Moldova Popular Front of Moldova MPs Moldovan MPs 1990–1994 Romanian nationalists