Titus Corlățean (; born 11 January 1968) is a
Romanian politician and diplomat, former Minister of Justice and of Foreign Affairs. He is a member of the
Social Democratic Party (PSD), part of the
Party of European Socialists, and was elected to 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 ...
for
Brașov County in the
2004 elections
4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures.
In mathematics
Four is the smallest c ...
.
Early life and education
Corlățean was born in
Medgidia, and graduated from the
University of Bucharest's Faculty of Law in 1994. He also earned a certificate from the International Institute of the
École nationale d'administration in
Paris (1995).
Diplomatic career
Between 1994 and 2001, Corlățean worked as a diplomat in 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 ...
, before joining
Prime Minister Adrian Năstase's Chancellery in 2001–2003 (first as Adviser on Foreign Policy Issues, and, after 2003, as Secretary of State for the
Romanian Diaspora).
Political career
Corlățean has been a member of the PSD since 2002, serving as spokesperson for its Coordinating Committee after 2004.
Corlățean became an appointed
Member of the European Parliament on 1 January 2007, with the
accession of Romania to the European Union. He was
elected to that body late in the same year. During his tenure, he served on the
Committee on Legal Affairs, including as vice-chair. He resigned in 2008 after being
returned to the Chamber. In 2012, he
was elected Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
for
Bucharest.
In Prime Minister
Victor Ponta's
cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
, Corlățean served as
Justice Minister (May–August 2012) and as
Foreign Minister
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
(August 2012—November 2014). He resigned from the latter position following the first round of the
2014 presidential election, in which he was blamed for not setting up enough polling places for the
Romanian diaspora.
In addition to his role in parliament, Corlățean has served as member of the Romanian delegation to the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 2009 until 2012 and since 2015. As member of the PSD, he is part of the
Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group. In the Assembly, he has served on the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy; the Committee on the Election of Judges to the
European Court of Human Rights; the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights; the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by
Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee); the Sub-Committee on the implementation of
judgments of the European Court of Human Rights; and the Sub-Committee on the Middle East and the Arab World. He has been the Assembly's
co-rapporteur on
Georgia since 2018 (alongside
Kerstin Lundgren and later Claude Kern) and on the downing of
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 since 2021. In 2019, he became the Assembly’s General Rapporteur on the abolition of the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
.
Recognition
In 2004, Corlățean was appointed Knight of the
Order of the Star of Romania; in 2014, he was appointed Grand Cross of the
Order ''pro merito Melitensi''.
[Profile]
at the Foreign Affairs Ministry page; accessed May 2, 2016
Personal life
Corlățean is married and the father of one daughter.
Notes
References
Profile at the Chamber of Deputies site
External links
European Parliament profileEuropean Parliament official photo
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corlatean, Titus
1968 births
Living people
Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania)
Members of the Senate of Romania
Presidents of the Senate of Romania
MEPs for Romania 2007
MEPs for Romania 2007–2009
People from Medgidia
Romanian diplomats
Romanian Ministers of Foreign Affairs
Romanian Ministers of Justice
Romanian public relations people
Social Democratic Party (Romania) MEPs
Social Democratic Party (Romania) politicians
University of Bucharest alumni
Knights of the Order of the Star of Romania
Recipients of the Order of Honour (Moldova)