Ovidiu Victor Ganț (born 18 August 1966) is a

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 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 ...

. A member of 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 ...

since 2004, he was the sole representative in 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 ...

of the

Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania The Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (german: Demokratisches Forum der Deutschen in Rumänien, DFDR; ro, Forumul Democrat al Germanilor din România, FDGR; in short or ) is a political party (legally recognized as an association of public ...

(FDGR/DFDR), part of the

European People's Party–European Democrats The European People's Party Group (EPP Group) is a centre-right political group of the European Parliament The political groups of the European Parliament are the officially recognised political groups consisting of legislators of aligned ...

, and became a MEP on 1 January 2007, along 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 ...

Biography

Born to an ethnic German (

Banat Swabian The Banat Swabians are an ethnic German population in the former Kingdom of Hungary in Central-Southeast Europe, part of the Danube Swabians. They emigrated in the 18th century to what was then the Austrian Empire's Banat of Temeswar province, la ...

)"Christa Stewens: 'Bayern setzt sich intensiv für Siebenbürger ein'"
in '' Siebenbürgische Zeitung'', May 23, 2002 family in Deta,

Timiș County Timiș () is a county ('' județ'') of western Romania on the border with Hungary and Serbia, in the historical region of Banat, with the county seat at Timișoara. It is the westernmost and the largest county in Romania in terms of land area. T ...

, Ganț graduated in Mathematics from the West University of Timișoara, and subsequently taught at the Coriolan Brediceanu High School in Lugoj (1989–1992) and the Nikolaus Lenau High School in Timișoara (1992–2001).Profile at the Chamber of Deputies site
/ref> In 1995, he received the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

's ''Outstanding Teacher Award''. Between 1992 and 1995, he was an outside collaborator of both the West University and the Timișoara Polytechnic University, and was a referent for the Romanian-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2003–2004. A Vice President of the FDGR/DFDR's

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

section, Ganț was appointed to the Romanian government's Department for Inter-Ethnic Relations under

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Adrian Năstase, and served until 2004. He became a member of the Chamber for Sibiu County after the 2004 election, and served on its Committee for Education, Science, Youth and Sport, as well as on the

Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

Committees for European Integration and European Affairs.

References

External links

European Parliament profile

European Parliament official photo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gant, Ovidiu Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania politicians People from Deta, Romania Romanian schoolteachers Danube-Swabian people Romanian people of German descent 1966 births Living people Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania MEPs MEPs for Romania 2007 Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany West University of Timișoara alumni