National Liberal Party (Romania)
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The National Liberal Party ( ro, Partidul Național Liberal, PNL) is a
liberal-conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
in
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 ...
(and the second largest overall political party in the country as of 2022). Re-founded in mid January 1990, shortly after the Revolution of 1989 which culminated in the fall of
communism in Romania This article covers the history and bibliography of Romania and links to specialized articles. Prehistory 34,950-year-old remains of modern humans with a possible Neanderthalian trait were discovered in present-day Romania when the '' Pe ...
, it claims the legacy of the major political party of the same name, active between 1875 and 1947 in the
Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania ( ro, Regatul României) was a constitutional monarchy that existed in Romania from 13 March ( O.S.) / 25 March 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian ...
. Based on this legacy, it often presents itself as the first formally constituted political party in the country and the oldest party from the family of European liberal parties. Until 2014, the PNL was a member of the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE; french: Alliance des Démocrates et des Libéraux pour l'Europe, ADLE) is a transnational alliance between two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Euro ...
(ALDE). The party statutes adopted in June 2014 dropped any reference to international affiliation, consequently most of its MEPs joined the
European People's Party Group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group) is a centre-right political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent MEP ...
(EPP) 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 ...
. On 12 September 2014, it was admitted as a full member of the
European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...
(EPP), and subsequently merged with the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL). The party was also a member of the
Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberal political parties - a political international. It was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties, aiming to strengthen liberalism around ...
(LI) before switching to
Centrist Democrat International The Centrist Democrat International ( es, Internacional Demócrata de Centro) is a Christian-democratic political international. Until 2001, it was known as the Christian Democrat International (CDI); before 1999, it was known as the Christian D ...
(CDI). Currently, it is the second-largest party in the
Romanian Parliament The Parliament of Romania ( ro, Parlamentul României) is the national bicameral legislature of Romania, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies ( ro, Camera Deputaților) and the Senate ( ro, Senat). It meets at the Palace of the Parliament in Bu ...
, with 81 seats 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 ...
and 39 in the
Senate 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 ...
, behind 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 Fo ...
(PSD). Additionally, the party currently has the largest number of MEPs in the European Parliament on behalf of Romania (more specifically 10 out of 33). At local political level, the PNL has been very closely associated with either 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), more specifically in parts of
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 ...
and
Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
, or, formerly, with the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNȚCD), in southern Romania. After it won the 2020 local elections, the PNL became the first political party in Transylvania, Banat, and
Bukovina Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter BergerT ...
, establishing new political alliances at national level with, most notably,
USR PLUS USR PLUS was a Romanian progressive, liberal, and centrist political alliance active between 2019 and 2021. Established on 2 February 2019 solely as an electoral alliance between the political parties Save Romania Union (USR) and the Freedom ...
shortly thereafter. Moreover, as of early 2022, the PNL also holds the largest amount of incumbent county councillors and local councillors nationwide, making it, in these regards, the most influential political party in Romania at local level. Nonetheless, concerning the total amount of mayors, the PNL comes second behind the PSD. During late 2021, the PNL broke the alliance with USR PLUS (now simply legally known as
USR USR may refer to: * USRobotics, a technology firm * USR (Guadeloupe football club), in Sainte-Rose, Guadeloupe * U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, a fictional robot manufacturer * /usr, directory in Unix systems, see Filesystem Hierarchy Standard ...
) and continued under former party president Cîțu a
minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...
alongside the Hungarian minority-oriented UDMR/RMDSZ (with the support of President
Klaus Iohannis Klaus Werner Iohannis (; ; also spelled Johannis; born 13 June 1959) is a Romanian politician, physicist and former teacher who has been serving as the president of Romania since 2014. He became leader of the National Liberal Party (Romania), Na ...
), consequently contributing to the three month-long 2021 Romanian political crisis, until successfully negotiating with their historical nominal adversaries PSD in early November 2021 a grand coalition government between themselves and the UDMR/RMDSZ (known as the
National Coalition for Romania The National Coalition for Romania ( ro, Coaliția Națională pentru România, CNR) is a grand coalition in Romania, which includes the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the National Liberal Party (PNL), and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians ...
or CNR for short), thereby leading to the formation of the incumbent
Ciucă cabinet The Ciucă Cabinet () is the 132nd and current government of Romania led by former Romanian Land Forces army general Nicolae Ciucă (PNL; also current PNL president) since 25 November 2021 to the present day. The grand coalition forming the g ...
led by
Nicolae Ciucă Nicolae Ionel Ciucă (; born 7 February 1967) is a Romanian politician and retired General officer, general of the Romanian Land Forces. Ideologically a Conservatism, conservative, he has been serving as Prime Minister of Romania since 25 Novemb ...
(current leader of the PNL since April 2022 onwards).


History


Re-foundation and first governing experiences after the 1989 Romanian Revolution (1990–2000)

The National Liberal Party of Romania (PNL) was re-founded in January 1990, a few days after the end of the violent
Romanian Revolution The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred i ...
. During the early 1990s, the party primarily revolved around the presidencies of
Radu Câmpeanu Radu-Anton Câmpeanu (; 28 February 1922 - 19 October 2016) was a Romanian politician who was also jurist and economist by profession, after graduating from the University of Bucharest in November 1945. During the interwar period and up until 19 ...
and Mircea Ionescu-Quintus, both former members of the historical PNL and liberal youth leaders during the
interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...
as well as during and shortly after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. At the 1990 general elections, the PNL became the third largest party in the
Parliament of Romania The Parliament of Romania ( ro, Parlamentul României) is the national bicameral legislature of Romania, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies ( ro, Camera Deputaților) and the Senate ( ro, Senat). It meets at the Palace of the Parliament i ...
and its then re-founding leader, Radu Câmpeanu, finished second in the same year's presidential elections, with 10.6% of the cast votes, behind
Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as President of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, Iliescu ...
. In December 1990, the Socialist Liberal Party (PSL) led by Niculae Cerveni established an alliance with the PNL and the latter became vice-president of the PNL led by Câmpeanu at that time. Shortly afterwards, at the main request and most notably alongside the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNȚCD), but to a lesser extent also with other smaller center-right parties and NGOs, the PNL managed to form the
Romanian Democratic Convention The Romanian Democratic Convention ( ro, Convenţia Democrată Română or Convenția Democratică Română; abbreviated CDR) was an electoral alliance of several democratic, anti-Communist, anti-totalitarian, and centre-right political parties i ...
(CDR) in an effort to assemble a stronger collective opposition and alternative governing body to then ruling National Salvation Front (FSN), which was, in many ways, the heir of the
Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ro, Partidul Comunist Român, , PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that woul ...
(PCR). However, prior to the 1992 general elections, Câmpeanu decided to withdraw the party from the CDR electoral alliance and instead compete as a stand-alone political force. One of the main reasons for doing so was Câmpeanu's reluctance for the PNL to run on common lists with the
Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR; hu, Romániai Magyar Demokrata Szövetség, RMDSZ; ro, Uniunea Democrată Maghiară din România, UDMR) is a political party in Romania which aims to represent the significant Hungarian m ...
(UDMR/RMDSZ). This had ultimately proven to be an eventual major strategic error for the PNL, as the party did not manage to surpass the needed electoral threshold for parliamentary presence and as such was forced to enter extra-parliamentary opposition for the period 1992–1996. Furthermore, this political decision also resulted in several splinter factions leaving the main party, with some PNL deflecting groups opting to remain within the CDR while others still supporting Câmpeanu's side in a new party which was called PNL-C ( ro, Partidul Național Liberal-Câmpeanu). Therefore, the factions which deflected from the main PNL and aligned themselves with the CDR were PNL-CD (led by Niculae Cerveni), PNL-AT, and PL '93. Other minor liberal political parties such as PAC and UFD (which later merged into the main PNL) were also part of the CDR throughout the late 1990s. Nevertheless, after a change of leadership that saw Ionescu-Quintus as the new party leader elected in 1995, the PNL contested the 1996 general election once again as part of the CDR. The 1996 general elections represented the first
peaceful transition of power A peaceful transition or transfer of power is a concept important to democratic governments in which the leadership of a government peacefully hands over control of government to a newly-elected leadership. This may be after elections or during t ...
in post-1989 Romania, with the PNL, PNȚCD,
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 ...
(PD), and the
Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR; hu, Romániai Magyar Demokrata Szövetség, RMDSZ; ro, Uniunea Democrată Maghiară din România, UDMR) is a political party in Romania which aims to represent the significant Hungarian m ...
(UDMR/RMDSZ) forming a grand coalition that pushed the PDSR (formerly the FSN and FDSN) in opposition for the period 1996–2000. Furthermore, the presidency was also won by the CDR's common candidate, more specifically
Emil Constantinescu Emil Constantinescu () (born 19 November 1939) is a Romanian professor and politician, who served as the President of Romania, from 1996 to 2000. After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Constantinescu became a founding member and vice president ...
, who received support on behalf of all of the alliance's constituent parties (including the PNL political groups therein).


Opposition and second governing experiences (2000–2010)

Between 1996 and 2000, because of the lack of political coherence within the parties of the governing CDR coalition and the multiple changes of cabinets that followed throughout this entire period of time, the PNL decided once more to withdraw from the alliance just before the 2000 general election and, consequently, to compete alone instead. This time, the party managed to gain parliamentary presence but failed to form another centre-right government, finishing fourth in the legislative elections and third in the presidential election. However, a splinter group founded by Dan Amedeo Lăzărescu and led by
Decebal Traian Remeș Decebal Traian Remeș (26 June 1949 – 14 February 2020) was a Romanian economist and politician. A member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), he was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Maramureș County from 1996 to 2000. In the ...
which was called PNL-T ( ro, PNL Tradițional) decided to remain within CDR 2000 and contest that year's general election by supporting
Mugur Isărescu Constantin Mugur Isărescu (; born 1 August 1949) is the Governor of the National Bank of Romania, a position he has been holding since September 1990, with the sole exception of a period of time of eleven months (16 November 1999 to 28 October 2 ...
as presidential candidate. Therefore, during the mid 2000s (more specifically starting in 2003), the PNL joined forces with the PD in order to form the
Justice and Truth Alliance The Justice and Truth Alliance (originally in ro, Alianţa Dreptate şi Adevăr; or D.A. for short, meaning "yes" in Romanian) was a political alliance comprising two political parties in Romania, namely the centre-right liberal National Libera ...
(DA) so as to compete in the 2004 general election as an alternative to the then ruling PSD (formerly PDSR) government. The alliance managed to finish second by popular vote in the
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
, subsequently form a centre-right cabinet, and also win the presidency during the same year. Until April 2007, the PNL was the largest member of the governing Justice and Truth Alliance (DA), which enjoyed a parliamentary majority due to an alliance between the PNL, PD, the
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
(PC), and the UDMR/RMDSZ. In April 2007, then PNL
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu (; born 14 January 1952) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 29 December 2004 to 22 December 2008. He was also president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the vice-pre ...
, who was also the party president, formed a minority government solely with the UDMR/RMDSZ and the remainder PD ministers were reshuffled. This caused internal opposition within the party and led to the scission of a splinter group which turned into a political party under
Theodor Stolojan Theodor Dumitru Stolojan (; born 24 October 1943) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from September 1991 to November 1992. An economist by training, he was also one of the presidents of the National Liberal Party (PNL) bef ...
, more specifically the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD), eventually merging with the PD to form the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL). After the 2008 legislative election, the party placed third and entered official opposition, winning 19.74% seats in the Parliament, while the new grand coalition, formed by their former enlarged ally, the Democrat Liberals (PDL) and 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 Fo ...
(PSD), obtained roughly 70% together. At the 2009 presidential election, the National Liberal Party's then newly elected leader,
Crin Antonescu George Crin Laurențiu Antonescu (; born 21 September 1959) is a Romanian politician, who was President of the National Liberal Party (PNL) from 2009 to 2014. He also served as the country Acting President after the impeachment of Traian Băsesc ...
, finished third in the first round and the party would still find itself in parliamentary opposition for the three next years to come up until the accession of the
Social Liberal Union The Social Liberal Union ( ro, Uniunea Social Liberală, USL) was a grand coalition of several political parties in Romania. The alliance contained two major centre-left and centre-right parties, more specifically the Social Democratic Party (PSD ...
(USL) to governance in mid 2012. At the same time, Klaus Iohannis, at that time solely FDGR/DFDR president, was nominated twice by the PNL (along with their most sturdy and powerful allies, the PSD and the PC) in 2009, but was rejected by then state president
Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 ...
.


Transition from USL to ACL and third governing experiences (2010–2020)

On 5 February 2011, the PNL formed the
Social Liberal Union The Social Liberal Union ( ro, Uniunea Social Liberală, USL) was a grand coalition of several political parties in Romania. The alliance contained two major centre-left and centre-right parties, more specifically the Social Democratic Party (PSD ...
(USL)
political alliance A political group is a group consisting of political parties or legislators of aligned ideologies. A technical group is similar to a political group, but with members of differing ideologies. International terms Equivalent terms are used differ ...
with the PSD, the National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR), and the
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
(PC). The PNL subsequently exited the USL on 25 February 2014, disbanding the alliance and returning to opposition. On 26 May 2014, following the
2014 European elections Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrel ...
, then PNL party president
Crin Antonescu George Crin Laurențiu Antonescu (; born 21 September 1959) is a Romanian politician, who was President of the National Liberal Party (PNL) from 2009 to 2014. He also served as the country Acting President after the impeachment of Traian Băsesc ...
announced he was seeking membership within the
European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...
(EPP). At the beginning of the
8th European Parliament The eighth European Parliament was elected in the 2014 elections and lasted until the 2019 elections. Major events * 22–25 May 2014 ** Elections to the Eighth Parliament. * 1 July 2014 ** First meeting (constitutive session) of the Eighth Pa ...
, 5 of the PNL MEPs sat with the
EPP Group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group) is a centre-right political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent ME ...
, and 1 with the ALDE Group, who later became an independent MEP within ALDE. In late May 2014 the party agreed to a future merger with the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), with the two parties main short-time goal being to submit a joint candidate for the upcoming presidential election. The PNL-PDL presidential candidate was agreed to run under an electoral banner called the
Christian Liberal Alliance The Christian Liberal Alliance ( ro, Alianța Creștin-Liberală, ACL), also known as the PNL-PDL Alliance ( ro, Alianța PNL-PDL), was a centre-right electoral alliance in Romania. The alliance was founded on 28 July 2014 by the National Liberal ...
(ACL). On 27 June 2014, former PNL chairman
Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu (; born 14 January 1952) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 29 December 2004 to 22 December 2008. He was also president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the vice-pre ...
announced his intention to found a separate liberal party to run for president, stating opposition to the upcoming merger with the PDL. The breakaway party, called the Liberal Reformist Party (PLR), was founded by Popescu-Tăriceanu on 3 July 2014. On 17 July 2014, it was announced that the future merger of the PNL and PDL would retain the National Liberal Party name, while being situated in the PDL's existing headquarters in Bucharest, and would be legally registered by the end of 2014. On 26 July 2014, a joint party congress of the PNL and PDL approved the merger. In the first round of the 2014 presidential election on 2 November 2014, ACL presidential candidate
Klaus Iohannis Klaus Werner Iohannis (; ; also spelled Johannis; born 13 June 1959) is a Romanian politician, physicist and former teacher who has been serving as the president of Romania since 2014. He became leader of the National Liberal Party (Romania), Na ...
, PNL party president and Mayor of
Sibiu Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...
was the runner-up. Iohannis won the runoff election held on 16 November 2014 with 54.5% of the total number of votes. At the 2016
local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...
and
legislative elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
, the PNL managed to finish second, behind the PSD, and consequently in continuous opposition until 2019 when it regained executive power. Regarding the 2019 presidential election, the party previously announced its formal support for a second term of incumbent state president
Klaus Iohannis Klaus Werner Iohannis (; ; also spelled Johannis; born 13 June 1959) is a Romanian politician, physicist and former teacher who has been serving as the president of Romania since 2014. He became leader of the National Liberal Party (Romania), Na ...
in March 2018 along with an official designation of
Ludovic Orban Ludovic Orban (; born 25 May 1963) is a Romanian engineer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Romania from November 2019 to December 2020. He was president of the National Liberal Party (Romania), National Liberal Party (PNL) betw ...
, current party president, for the position of
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
should the PNL win the 2020 legislative elections. In June 2018, at an open air press conference in his native Sibiu, Iohannis publicly announced his intention to run for a second presidential term. The year 2019 saw two minor parties adhering to the PNL, namely the PND (led by Daniel Fenechiu) and PACT (led by Sebastian Burduja), thereby increasing its total number of members. In late 2019, the National Liberal Party acceded to governance under a minority stand-alone government led by Orban which was voted twice by the Parliament (under, most notably, a confidence and supply agreement with
USR USR may refer to: * USRobotics, a technology firm * USR (Guadeloupe football club), in Sainte-Rose, Guadeloupe * U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, a fictional robot manufacturer * /usr, directory in Unix systems, see Filesystem Hierarchy Standard ...
and PMP as well as most ethnic minority parties, including most importantly the FDGR/DFDR). At national level, the greatest two challenges that the Orban cabinet tried to monitor, control, and solve are the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
as well as its affiliated recession.


Brief alliance with USR PLUS and fourth governing experiences (2020–present)

The PNL ran in several electoral alliances with the 2020 USR-PLUS Alliance for the 2020 Romanian local elections, winning the mayor of Bucharest (along with several of the capital's sectors) as well as many other municipalities throughout the countryside. Shortly thereafter, the PNL decided to form local alliances with, most notably, USR PLUS, PMP, and FDGR/DFDR (as well as with two local branches of the PNȚCD and UDMR/RMDSZ in
Hunedoara County Hunedoara County () is a county ('' județ'') of Romania, in Transylvania, with its capital city at Deva. The county is part of the Danube–Criș–Mureș–Tisa Euroregion. Name In Hungarian, it is known as , in German as , and in Slovak as ...
). After the 2020 Romanian legislative election, the party agreed to form a coalition government alongside USR PLUS and UDMR in order to reportedly provide a stable governance for the next 4 years in Romania. Furthermore, incumbent party president Ludovic Orban decided to step down as Prime Minister in early December 2020, letting
Nicolae Ciucă Nicolae Ionel Ciucă (; born 7 February 1967) is a Romanian politician and retired General officer, general of the Romanian Land Forces. Ideologically a Conservatism, conservative, he has been serving as Prime Minister of Romania since 25 Novemb ...
acting until the new coalition received the confidence vote in the Parliament after the 2020 legislative elections concluded with concrete, positive results on behalf of a future center-right government. Subsequently, the newly proposed Prime Minister on behalf of the PNL was
Florin Cîțu Florin Vasile Cîțu (; born 1 April 1972) is a Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania between December 2020 and November 2021 (acting (law), acting/ad interim between October and November 2021). Between September 2021 and A ...
, who previously served as the Minister of Public Finance in both Orban cabinets between 2019 and 2020. Therefore, Cîțu took office on 23 December 2020, after an overwhelming confidence vote in the Parliament (260 for in counterpart to 186 against). In the meantime, it has been announced that a new party congress will take place on 25 September 2021 with 5,000 delegates. At the forthcoming congress, incumbent party president Ludovic Orban will face incumbent Prime Minister Florin Cîțu for the leadership of the party during the upcoming years (although it has been rumoured that Dan Motreanu, former Minister for Agriculture in the First Tăriceanu Cabinet between 2006 and 2007, would also announce his candidacy at a later point during 2021 but the latter eventually declined it). Furthermore, this new congress will also determine the leadership of PNL at each and every level within the party nationwide. Nonetheless, up until the date of the congress, Orban will still remain party president. At the same time, the struggle for power within the PNL between Cîțu and Orban (each one along with their respective teams of supporters) considerably bogged down the pace of reforms applied by the government.


Involvement in the 2021 Romanian political crisis

During early September 2021, several weeks prior to the new congress of the party, USR PLUS decided to exit the
Cîțu Cabinet The Cîțu Cabinet was the 131st government of Romania, led by the national liberal (PNL) Prime Minister Florin Cîțu. It was removed from office after a motion of no confidence passed by the Parliament with a record of 281 votes, the largest n ...
in protest to Cîțu's dismissal of the Minister of Justice; the initial coalition consisting of three centre-right parties was thereby disbanded and reduced to two, with the USR PLUS officially entering opposition and even publicly declaring that they will support any motion of no confidence against Cîțu in the future, deeming him responsible for creating a major governmental crisis in the process. Moreover, according to USR PLUS, Cîțu is also responsible for legalizing massive theft from public procurement money with the approval of PNDL 3 (overtaking, in this regard, even convicted former PSD leader
Liviu Dragnea Liviu Nicolae Dragnea (; born 28 October 1962) is a Romanian engineer and former politician. Starting his career in the Democratic Party (PD), he joined the Social Democratic Party (PSD), eventually becoming its leader. After holding several po ...
) in the prospect of bribing PNL mayors (referred to as "local barons" in a press report by USR PLUS) to side with him for the then upcoming party congress which was held on 25 September 2021. In response, Cîțu stated: "only this hree-partycoalition is feasible for Romania. It's that political setup that can handle
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
's recovery plan, our local development, and make use of EU money," after an emergency meeting of the party. He also stated that "this is my message for the coalition talks later today, we have all promised Romania's investments". Additionally, in response to sacking the Justice Minister, Cîțu mentioned in a late night news briefing the following: "I will not accept ministers in the Romanian government who oppose the modernisation of Romania. Blocking the activity of the government only because you do not agree to develop the communities, means violating the mandate given to you by the parliament through the governing programme.", referring to a 50 billion lei ($12 billion) allegedly local development financing scheme aimed at modernizing decrepit infrastructure in the countryside and the plan which needed the justice ministry's seal of approval. Eventually, the PNL was helped to maintain a minority cabinet along with the UDMR/RMDSZ after they boycotted the no confidence motion initiated by the USR PLUS and AUR, with the help of both PSD and UDMR/RMDSZ parliamentary groups. In the meantime, Cîțu posted a video portraying himself as
Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...
on
Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
. In response, the Romanian internet community made a video in which he was portrayed as the
psychopathic Psychopathy, sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy, is characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. Different conceptions of psychopathy have been u ...
supervillain A supervillain or supercriminal is a variant of the villainous stock character that is commonly found in American comic books, usually possessing superhuman abilities. A supervillain is the antithesis of a superhero. Supervillains are oft ...
Joker. Moreover,
Ludovic Orban Ludovic Orban (; born 25 May 1963) is a Romanian engineer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Romania from November 2019 to December 2020. He was president of the National Liberal Party (Romania), National Liberal Party (PNL) betw ...
hinted a psychiatric consultation for Cîțu, in reaction to the Instagram videoclip. In addition, it was also in 2021 that, at local political level, the PNL lost other former allies, more specifically the PMP, who veered towards PSD and PRO Romania, establishing new political alliances in some counties (most notably Caraș-Severin) with the two centre-left political parties. In the meantime, former Deputy Prime Minister
Dan Barna Dan Barna (born 10 July 1975) is a Romanian politician and lawyer. He served as the president of the Save Romania Union (USR), and as co-president of USR-PLUS until 1 October 2021. He was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 2016. Bi ...
said that "if USR PLUS will remain in opposition, it will win the electorate of the right n 2024. Additionally,
Marcel Ciolacu Ion-Marcel Ciolacu (born 28 November 1967) is a Romanian politician who currently serves as the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). A previously little known politician, Ciolacu came into national prominence when he was propped up by a f ...
, the incumbent president 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 Fo ...
(PSD) and thereby the leader of the then largest opposition party, stated on 20 September 2021 that PSD will vote for the no confidence motion initiated by the USR PLUS and AUR. In the meantime, PNL president Ludovic Orban clearly stated that "Cîțu could only remain Prime Minister with the support of PSD which would be a catastrophe for both Romania and the PNL". In stark contrast to Orban's statement, Iohannis declared that he still supports Cîțu and that he has no reasons whatsoever for resigning or for being ousted. Nonetheless, in late September 2021, DNA officially started the criminal investigation in Florin Cîțu's case on the grounds of abuse of office and incitement to abuse of office as Prime Minister. Several noteworthy Romanian journalists such as Cristian Tudor Popescu, Lucian Mîndruță, and Ramona Ursu have also criticized Cîțu and his actions as Prime Minister and have described themselves totally revolted with respect to why would he still be left to serve as Prime Minister. All throughout this period of time, the political crisis had severe results in the economy of the country, with the
euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
rising consistently above the leu, as reported by the
National Bank of Romania The National Bank of Romania ( ro, Banca Națională a României, BNR) is the central bank of Romania and was established in April 1880. Its headquarters are located in the capital city of Bucharest. The National Bank of Romania is responsible ...
(BNR) in the beginning of the autumn of 2021. Furthermore, during late September 2021, the
USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
had also risen consistently above the RON, as the political crisis kept on lingering. In addition, the finance department of
Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and m ...
also noted the record inflation levels which rose to the highest charting positions in the last three years in Romania in early September 2021. As of 12 September 2021, most of the initial PNL-USR PLUS local alliances established after the 2020 local elections have been disbanded, with the USR PLUS entering official opposition at all local levels towards the PNL. The PNL also has a local governing alliance with the PSD in Ialomița.


= Cîțu's leadership (September 2021–April 2022)

= On 25 September 2021, at the PNL congress held at
Romexpo Romexpo, also known as Romexpo Dome or Romexpo Town, is a large exhibition center and indoor arena in Bucharest, Romania. It is primarily used for exhibitions, concerts, and sporting events. The complex also hosts more than 140 other exhibits a ...
in Bucharest, Florin Cîțu was elected the 10th post-1989 president of the PNL with 2,878 votes out of 4,848 total delegates, being congratulated, most notably, by congress organiser
Theodor Stolojan Theodor Dumitru Stolojan (; born 24 October 1943) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from September 1991 to November 1992. An economist by training, he was also one of the presidents of the National Liberal Party (PNL) bef ...
, amidst significant heavy fraud allegations claimed, most importantly, by previous PNL president Ludovic Orban and subsequently by Adrian Veștea. Nonetheless, Orban congratulated Cîțu but also said that he no longer has a partnership with Iohannis. Furthermore, he also stated that he resigns from the office of the
President of the Chamber of Deputies President of the Chamber of Deputies may refer to: * List of presidents of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies * List of presidents of the Chamber of Deputies of Bolivia * President of the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil) * President of the Chamber of Dep ...
. The Romanian press had also cited Cîțu's triumph as a
Pyrrhic victory A Pyrrhic victory ( ) is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Such a victory negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress. The phrase originates from a quote from P ...
as, on the one hand, PSD announced that they will vote the no confidence motion initiated by USR PLUS and AUR and, on the other hand, USR PLUS also stated that they will no longer want to govern under Cîțu. On 26 September 2021, the party's new leadership team under Cîțu was voted, validated, and consequently established as well. Shortly after the congress, on 27 September, former president Ludovic Orban stated that Cîțu became
persona non grata In diplomacy, a ' (Latin: "person not welcome", plural: ') is a status applied by a host country to foreign diplomats to remove their protection of diplomatic immunity from arrest and other types of prosecution. Diplomacy Under Article 9 of the ...
for a huge number of Romanian citizens and that he doesn't understand he will no longer be PM for too long, only with the mercy of PSD. In the meantime, the PNRR (part of the
Next Generation EU Next Generation EU (NGEU, also called the European Union Recovery Instrument) is a European Union (EU) economic recovery package to support the EU member states to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular those that have been particul ...
package and short for ro, Planul Național de Redresare și Reziliență) was signed and adopted in Bucharest on the occasion of
Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 an ...
's visit, mandated by the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
. The Romanian PNRR is the 5th Next Generation EU plan adopted by volume of funds and most of the work and successful negations on it were carried out by
USR PLUS USR PLUS was a Romanian progressive, liberal, and centrist political alliance active between 2019 and 2021. Established on 2 February 2019 solely as an electoral alliance between the political parties Save Romania Union (USR) and the Freedom ...
ministers, in particular Cristian Ghinea. Most opinion polls conducted throughout 2021 registered a significant drop of trust both in Cîțu as PM and in the PNL in the perspective of the next Romanian legislative elections which are most likely going to take place in 2024. In the meantime, PSD initiated its own motion of no confidence which is scheduled to be debated on 30 September and voted on 5 October. In addition, former party president Valeriu Stoica accused the recent political behaviour of PNL in the following manner: "PNL acts like PSD", further stating that the party is operating on a catch all ideology and consistent
party switching Party switching is any change in political party affiliation of a partisan public figure, usually one currently holding elected office. Party switching also occurs quite commonly in Brazil, Italy, Romania, Ukraine, India, Malaysia , and the P ...
as well as currently defying and breaching the constitution. On 5 October 2021, the Cîțu cabinet was ousted by an overwhelming vote on behalf of the PSD, AUR, and USR parliamentary groups at the no confidence motion debated and voted during that day. The no confidence motion was voted by 281 MPs, the largest number of votes to dismiss a government in Romania's post-1989 history. Nevertheless, Cîțu still served as
acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...
/ad interim Prime Minister until a new government will be validated by vote in the Parliament and then subsequently sworn in (i.e. for at least one week from October 5 until still incumbent President Klaus Iohannis will call for party consultations). In the meantime, former PNL president Valeriu Stoica heavily criticized Iohannis for allowing "mediocre people at the leadership of the party" since 2014 onwards. He previously also stated that the PNL would demonstrate gross political immaturity if they will still propose Cîțu as Prime Minister at subsequent party consultations scheduled to take place at the
Cotroceni Palace Cotroceni Palace (Romanian: ''Palatul Cotroceni'') is the official residence of the President of Romania. It is located at ''Bulevardul Geniului, nr. 1'', in Bucharest, Romania. The palace also houses the National Cotroceni Museum. History The ...
. At the same time, he mentioned that Iohannis should have that the political status quo imposed Cîțu's resignation, avoiding as such the motion of no confidence. On 11 October, still incumbent President Klaus Iohannis nominated USR leader and former Prime Minister
Dacian Cioloș Dacian Julien Cioloș (; born 27 July 1969) is a Romanian agronomist who served as Prime Minister of Romania from November 2015 to January 2017. He previously served as Agriculture Minister under Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu between October 2007 and ...
to form a new government. Cioloș was subsequently rejected by the parliament and Iohannis appointed previous acting PM
Nicolae Ciucă Nicolae Ionel Ciucă (; born 7 February 1967) is a Romanian politician and retired General officer, general of the Romanian Land Forces. Ideologically a Conservatism, conservative, he has been serving as Prime Minister of Romania since 25 Novemb ...
instead on 21 October 2021. In late October, relatively shortly after his dismissal, Cîțu's approval rate hit 7% nationwide, a negative record for him. Given the matter, Cîțu resorted to buying
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
likes from countries such as
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
, the ones from the ex-
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
and from the
Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
, partly according to an analysis by former Health minister
Vlad Voiculescu Vlad Vasile Voiculescu (born 6 September 1983) is a Romanian politician and former Romanian Minister of Health in the Cîțu Cabinet (affiliated with the Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party, PLUS) whose term lasted from 23 December 2020 until h ...
of
Save Romania Union The Save Romania Union ( ro, Uniunea Salvați România, USR) is a liberal political party active in Romania and Moldova, currently the third largest party in the Parliament with 43 deputies and 22 senators, and fifth at national level (following ...
(USR). In early November 2021, journalist Lucian Mîndruță heavily criticized Iohannis and PNL for making an alliance with PSD, also stating that PSD is the only political party in post-1989 Romania which acceded to governance by "walking on corpses", a reference to the dreadful demographic effects of the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic in Romania The COVID-19 pandemic in Romania is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have reached Romania on 26 February 2020, when the f ...
. In mid-early November 2021, several noteworthy political sources hinted a very probable merger of PMP with PNL sometime in the near future (although previous PMP president
Cristian Diaconescu Cristian Diaconescu (; born 2 July 1959) is a Romanian jurist and politician. He previously belonged to the National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD), as well as to the People's Movement Party (PMP) ...
publicly dismissed this scenario on his Facebook page) and even a possible, hypothetical absorption of ALDE afterwards (paradoxically enough, thereby subsequently producing the return of
Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu (; born 14 January 1952) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 29 December 2004 to 22 December 2008. He was also president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the vice-pre ...
in the party he had previously left in 2014), just after the exclusion of Ludovic Orban from the party on 12 November 2021, who stated that "he is owfree to build a new political force". At an official level however, Cristian Diaconescu later stated that there are indeed negotiations between the delegations of the two parties for a "common political project". Shortly afterwards, incumbent party president Cîțu stated, in the context of the ongoing negotiations with the PSD, that "it is a major compromise that PNL does" (i.e. to make a government with PSD). In stark contrast, former PNL president Orban stated that "a monster is being built" (in reference to the subsequent hypothetical longtime alliance between PSD and PNL) and that he has the obligation to the people who voted for PNL to represent them, as such siding with
USR USR may refer to: * USRobotics, a technology firm * USR (Guadeloupe football club), in Sainte-Rose, Guadeloupe * U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, a fictional robot manufacturer * /usr, directory in Unix systems, see Filesystem Hierarchy Standard ...
in the process. Subsequently, Diaconescu totally dismissed the possibility of a hypothetical merger between PMP and PNL during his term as PMP president, instead expecting a future invitation to governance, even though PMP is currently extra-parliamentary. On 22 November 2021, Nicolae Ciucă was officially designated PM by Klaus Iohannis, being in charge of a grand coalition government known as the ''
National Coalition for Romania The National Coalition for Romania ( ro, Coaliția Națională pentru România, CNR) is a grand coalition in Romania, which includes the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the National Liberal Party (PNL), and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians ...
'' (CNR for short). Shortly afterwards, on 23 November 2021, former PNL president
Ludovic Orban Ludovic Orban (; born 25 May 1963) is a Romanian engineer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Romania from November 2019 to December 2020. He was president of the National Liberal Party (Romania), National Liberal Party (PNL) betw ...
had officially resigned from the party along with 16 others PNL MPs. In December 2021, Orban officially founded his party which is called "
Force of the Right Force of the Right ( ro, Forța Dreptei, FD), sometimes translated as Right's Force or Right Force, is a liberal-conservative political party in Romania founded in December 2021 by Ludovic Orban, former National Liberal Party (PNL) president and ...
" (or FD for short). In early 2022, incumbent PNL spokesman Ionuț-Marian Stroe announced that the PNL has just started negotiations for a very probable near future merger with ALDE, but without former ALDE president
Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu (; born 14 January 1952) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 29 December 2004 to 22 December 2008. He was also president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the vice-pre ...
, who is no longer even a member of the latter party. In addition, it was confirmed that PNL is also currently negotiating with PMP for a future merger as well. On 2 April 2022, Florin Cîțu resigned from the position of PNL president and prior to this decision Dan Vîlceanu also announced his resignation as secretary-general of the party.
Gheorghe Flutur Gheorghe Flutur (born 8 July 1960 in Botoșana, Suceava County, Romania) is a Romanian politician, member of the National Liberal Party (PNL). He was also a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) as vice-president, since December 2006 u ...
, president of the
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 ...
council, became
acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...
/ad interim president of the PNL on 2 April 2022 until a new congress was held on 10 April 2022.


= Ciucă's leadership (April 2022–present)

= At an extraordinary party congress held on 10 April 2022,
Nicolae Ciucă Nicolae Ionel Ciucă (; born 7 February 1967) is a Romanian politician and retired General officer, general of the Romanian Land Forces. Ideologically a Conservatism, conservative, he has been serving as Prime Minister of Romania since 25 Novemb ...
was elected the 11th post-1989 president of the PNL with 1,060 valid votes out of 1,120 total ones (60 were nullified and 159 were abstentions). Thus, Nicolae Ciucă became the first military leader in the history of the party. Additionally, Ciucă's primary objective as PNL president is very likely to maintain the cohesion of the '' CNR'' grand coalition until the end of his term as PM (which is quite probable to occur in May 2023). In terms of external politics, the CNR government led by Ciucă expressed serious concern over the ongoing
Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatist forces in Donbas, Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since Feb ...
. Internally, the PNL will choose their new secretary-general on 27 May 2022, when the party's national council will re-unite to vote for this position in front of 1,000 national delegates.


Scissions and mergers


Parties seceded from PNL

* National Liberal Party - Youth Wing (1990); * Liberal Union–Brătianu (1990); * National Liberal Party - Democratic Convention (1991); * National Liberal Party-Câmpeanu (1995); * Liberal Democratic Party (2006); * Liberal Reformist Party (2014); * Liberal Right Party (2019); *
Force of the Right Force of the Right ( ro, Forța Dreptei, FD), sometimes translated as Right's Force or Right Force, is a liberal-conservative political party in Romania founded in December 2021 by Ludovic Orban, former National Liberal Party (PNL) president and ...
(2021); *
Liberal Conservative Platform Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and ...
(2022).


Parties absorbed by PNL

* Socialist Liberal Party (1990); * Progressive Peasant Party (1993); * New Liberal Party (1993); * Liberal Party '93/Liberal Party (1998); * Civic Alliance Party (1998); *
Alliance for Romania Alliance for Romania ( ro, Alianța pentru România, ApR) was a political party in Romania active during the late 1990s and early 2000s which was headed by Teodor Meleșcanu. It was a splinter faction of the Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDS ...
(2002); * Union of Right-wing Forces (2003); * National Liberal Party-Câmpeanu (2003); *
People's Action People's Action is a national progressive advocacy and political organization in the United States made up of 40 organizations in 30 states. The group's stated goal is to "build the power of poor and working people, in rural, suburban, and urban ...
(2008); * Democratic Force (2012); * Democratic Liberal Party (2014); * Popular Party (2015); * National Democratic Party (2019); * Youth Civic Action Platform (2019); * Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (2022).


Ideology

The party adheres to the doctrine of
liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
in the form of
conservative liberalism Conservative liberalism or right-liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or simply representing the right-wing of the liberal movement. M. Gallagher, M. Laver and P. Mair, ''Repre ...
and
liberal conservatism Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by libe ...
, advocating both economic and social liberalization. The party also takes a
pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Polit ...
stance. In recent years, it has focused more on
economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...
and a shift to a more catch all platform. The National Liberal Party (PNL) also supports conservative initiatives and policies and the state in moral and religious issues, as well as the
privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
and denationalization of the economy, a trend which is currently taking place quite rapidly in Romania, as in other
post-communist Post-communism is the period of political and economic transformation or transition in former communist states located in Eastern Europe and parts of Africa and Asia in which new governments aimed to create free market-oriented capitalist economi ...
economies in
Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a term encompassing the countries in the Baltics, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe (mostly the Balkans), usually meaning former communist states from the Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact in Europe. ...
. Unlike its Western counterparts, the party is more
nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
and traditionalist on social issues, such as
LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...
. The party has factions of adherence to
Christian democracy Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
,
national liberalism National liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal policies and issues with elements of nationalism. Historically, national liberalism has also been used in the same meaning as conservative liberalism (right-liberalism). A seri ...
,
ethnic nationalism Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentric (and in some cases an ethnocratic) approach to various politi ...
,
neoliberalism Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
, and
social conservatism Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institutio ...
. The party has also been described as
populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...
, while former president
Florin Cîțu Florin Vasile Cîțu (; born 1 April 1972) is a Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania between December 2020 and November 2021 (acting (law), acting/ad interim between October and November 2021). Between September 2021 and A ...
rejects this qualification. However, after joining the
European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...
(EPP) and especially under Cîțu and Ciucă's leadership, the party became more
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
,
Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
calling it "liberal only in the name". In economic regards, it deems significant the fact that
tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...
es must be lowered and that the
private sector The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The ...
of the national economy must be expanded and helped by a series of new laws in order to generate more value. It also advocates a decentralization of Romania's political structure, with greater autonomy given to the eight development regions.


Structure

According to the statute, the leading organs of the party are the following:


Congress

The Congress, or The General Assembly of the delegates of the party's members ( ro, Congresul; Adunarea Generală a delegaţilor membrilor partidului) is the supreme authority in the party. It leads the party and takes decisions at national level. Its members are elected by the local (territorial) organizations, and The National Consillium. The Congress meets every four years, after the parliamentary elections, or at any time needed. The Congress is convoked either by the Permanent Delegation (see below), at the request of the Central Political Bureau, or at the request of at least half of the Territorial Permanent Delegations. The Congress elects the President of the National Liberal Party, the 15 vice-presidents of the Central Standing Bureau (7 with specific attributions and 8 responsible for the development regions, 23 judges of The Honor and Referee Court ( ro, Curtea de Onoare şi Arbitraj), 7 members of The Central Committee of Censors ( ro, Comisia Centrală de Cenzori). The last congress took place at
Romexpo Romexpo, also known as Romexpo Dome or Romexpo Town, is a large exhibition center and indoor arena in Bucharest, Romania. It is primarily used for exhibitions, concerts, and sporting events. The complex also hosts more than 140 other exhibits a ...
in
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
on 25 September 2021, when the 10th post-1989 president of the party was elected being
Florin Cîțu Florin Vasile Cîțu (; born 1 April 1972) is a Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania between December 2020 and November 2021 (acting (law), acting/ad interim between October and November 2021). Between September 2021 and A ...
.


Permanent Delegation

The Permanent Delegation ( ro, Delegaţia Permanentă – DP) is the structure that leads the party between two Congresses. It meets monthly, or at any time needed. Its members are the following; the President of the National Liberal Party, the members of the Central Political Bureau, the President of the Senate of the party, the Secretary General of the National Liberal Party, the presidents of the two Chambers of the Parliament (if the officeholders are members of the PNL), the leaders of the National liberal Party's parliamentary groups, the Senators and Deputies, the MEPs, the Ministers, the President of the
National Liberal Youth The National Liberal Youth ( ro, Tineretul Național Liberal, TNL) is the youth organisation of the National Liberal Party (PNL) of Romania. It is a nationwide body, as part of the PNL local, county and national organisations. External links Off ...
(TNL), the President of the Liberal Women Organisation (OFL), the President of the Liberal Student Clubs (CSL), the President of the League of the Local Elected Officeholders of the National Liberal Party (LAL PNL), the President of the Coordinating Council of the Municipality of Bucharest, the
European Commissioner A European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio. The commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent ...
(if the officeholder is member of the PNL).


National Political Bureau

The National Political Bureau ( ro, Biroul Politic Național – BPN) of the National Liberal Party (PNL) proposes the party's politics and coordinates its application. It ensures the party's day-to-day leadership, and it is composed by the following: the President of the party, the 15 vice-presidents (7 with specific charges, and 8 responsible for the development regions). At the BPC's meetings can assist, with consultative vote, the president of the Senate of the PNL, the Secretary-General of the PNL, the Presidents of the two Chambers of the Parliament (if the officeholders are members of the PNL), the leaders of the National liberal Party's parliamentary groups, the President of the TNL, the President of the OFL, the President of the CSL, the President of the League of the LAL, and the Ministers. The BPC meets weekly, or at any time needed, convoked by the president of the PNL. According to Article 70 of the PNL Statute, the BPN coordinates and evaluates the objectives of the territorial branches, of the parliamentary groups; it negotiates political agreements (within the limits established by the DP); it coordinates the elections campaign; proposes sanctions according to the Statute; proposes to the DP the political strategy of the party; proposes the candidates for the central executive or public offices; for certain territorial units, proposes to the DP the candidates for the parliamentary elections; proposes to the DP the candidates for the
European Parliament elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Unti ...
; proposes the DP to dissolve or dismiss, for exceptional reasons, the territorial branch, or the branch's president; convokes the DP; coordinates the activity of the permanent committees of the National Council, validates or invalidates the results of the elections for the territorial branches; appoints the Secretary-Executive, the Foreign Secretary, and Deputy-Secretaries-General. The BPN is assisted, in the organizing activity by the Secretary General of the PNL. This office ensures the communication between the central organisms and the territorial branches, ensures the management of the party's assets, is responsible for the informational system. The Secretary-General is assisted by the Deputy-Secretaries-General, appointed by the BPC at the suggestion of the Secretary-General. As of 2018, the National Political Bureau was composed of the following members: * President:
Ludovic Orban Ludovic Orban (; born 25 May 1963) is a Romanian engineer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Romania from November 2019 to December 2020. He was president of the National Liberal Party (Romania), National Liberal Party (PNL) betw ...
; * Secretary General: Robert Sighiartău; * Vice-presidents: Ilie Bolojan,
Raluca Turcan Raluca Turcan (née Tatarcan; 2 April 1976) is a Romanian politician. A member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), she has been a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Sibiu County since 2004. She has been married to Valeriu Turcan, ...
, Iulian Dumitrescu,
Mircea Hava Mircea Hava (born 26 December 1956 in Oradea, Bihor County, Romania) is a Romanian politician, engineer, and member of the European Parliament. Hava was elected as member of the European Parliament on the list of the National Liberal Party (P ...
, Vlad Nistor, Laurențiu Leoreanu, Ben-Oni Ardelean,
Florin Cîțu Florin Vasile Cîțu (; born 1 April 1972) is a Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania between December 2020 and November 2021 (acting (law), acting/ad interim between October and November 2021). Between September 2021 and A ...
, Dan Motreanu,
Nechita-Adrian Oros Nechita-Adrian Oros (born July 9, 1965) is a Romanian politician who formerly served as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Cîțu Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Florin Cîțu, . He previously served in this position in the fir ...
, Virgil Guran, Ioan Bălan, Victor Paul Dobre, Răducu Filipescu, Gigel Știrbu, Gheorghe Falcă,
Lucian Bode Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridiculed supersti ...
, Florin Roman, Marian Petrache, Cristian Bușoi; * Leader of the PNL Parliamentary Group in the
Senate 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 ...
: Iulian Dumitrescu; * Leader of the PNL Parliamentary Group 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 ...
:
Raluca Turcan Raluca Turcan (née Tatarcan; 2 April 1976) is a Romanian politician. A member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), she has been a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Sibiu County since 2004. She has been married to Valeriu Turcan, ...
. In normal conditions, the term of the BPN members ends during the Party's Congress, when the president leaves the presidium of the Congress. The president of the Standing Bureau of the Congress is, formally, the acting president of the party until the new president is elected. The last acting president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) was Mircea Ionescu-Quintus on 20 March 2009, when
Crin Antonescu George Crin Laurențiu Antonescu (; born 21 September 1959) is a Romanian politician, who was President of the National Liberal Party (PNL) from 2009 to 2014. He also served as the country Acting President after the impeachment of Traian Băsesc ...
succeeded
Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu (; born 14 January 1952) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 29 December 2004 to 22 December 2008. He was also president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the vice-pre ...
.


National Council

The National Council ( ro, Consiliul Naţional – CN) is the debate forum of the National Liberal Party between two Congresses. It reunites twice a year, or at any time necessary, convoked by the president, by the BPC, or at the request of at least half of its members. Its members are: DP, including the members with consultative vote; the Secretaries of State and the equivalent officeholders; the
Prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...
s and Deputy-Prefects; Presidents and vice-presidents of the
County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
Councils; Mayors and Deputy-Mayors of the county capitals, of the
sectors of Bucharest The Municipality of Bucharest (the capital of Romania) is divided into 6 administrative units, named sectors (''sectoare'' in Romanian), each of which has their own mayor and council, and has responsibility over local affairs, such as secondary st ...
, the General Mayor and General Deputy-Mayors of
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
; the vice-presidents and Secretaries-General of TNL, OFL, CSL, the Senate of the Party, LAL; honorary members of the party; the President of the structures that deal with specific issues; the Presidents of the CN. The CN has the following competences: acts to fulfill the decisions of the Congress; adopts the Governing Program; adopts the programs and sectorial politics of the party; approves the reports of the specialty committees; names the candidate of the National Liberal Party for the Romanian Presidency; gives and retracts the quality of honorary member of the party. According to Article 65 of the Statute, the CN is organized and functions through its permanent specialty committees, constituted on social and professional criteria. The committees constituted on social criteria promote the interests of the correspondent social category. The committees constituted on professional criteria state the sectorial politics and the public politics in major fields, to express the options and solutions proposed by the National Liberal Party.


President

The President of the National Liberal Party (PNL) is the guardian of the political programme of the party, of the respect of the statute, and the keeper of the unity and prestige of the party.


Secretary-General

The Secretary-General ensures the communication between the central leading structures and the territorial ones, ensures the management of the assets of the party, is responsible for the informational system. The Secretary-General is helped in its activity by Deputy-Secretaries-General appointed by the BPC, upon the suggestion of the Secretary-General.


Other national structures

* The Senate of the party – consulting organism for the president regarding the continuity and development of the liberal traditions and concepts; * Court of Honor and Arbitration – the supreme court of the party; * Central Committee of Censors – checks the management of the party; * Ethics Commission – analyzes the candidates proposed for the
legislative elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
and for the offices in the
Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
as well as other central offices; *
National Liberal Youth The National Liberal Youth ( ro, Tineretul Național Liberal, TNL) is the youth organisation of the National Liberal Party (PNL) of Romania. It is a nationwide body, as part of the PNL local, county and national organisations. External links Off ...
– coordinates the activity specific to the youth structures in the territory; * League of the Local Elected Officeholders – coordinates the activity of the PNL members in the local public administration (mayors and deputy-mayors, local councilors, county councilors, county council presidents, and deputy-presidents); * Liberal Women Organisation – coordinates the activity of the territorial women organizations; * Liberal Student Clubs – promotes the liberal ideas and political program of the PNL through the students.


Local leading structures

The local leading structures of the National Liberal Party (PNL) are the following: * the General Assembly of the Members ( ro, Adunarea Generală a membrilor – AG) – applies at local level the necessary measures for fulfilling the Program and Strategy. * the Standing Bureau of the organization ( ro, Biroul Permanent – BP) – leads the organization between two General Assemblies.


Symbol

Romanian law requires all parties to present a permanent sign and a permanent electoral sign. The former is used to identify the party's buildings and press releases, and the latter to identify the party's electoral materials and the candidates on the elections ballot. Usually they differ slightly. The main element of the party is a blue arrow pointing to the upper right corner of a yellow square, and the letters ''P'', ''N'', and ''L'' in blue, tilted to the right. The position of the ''PNL'' with respect to the arrow depends on the type of symbol, as shown below. File:National Liberal Party Romania.png, Current and official PNL logo and electoral sign (in use since 2014–present) File:Pnl logo 4.png, Alternative official PNL logo with the inverted colours (in use for electoral campaigns since 2018–present) File:Sigla PNL.jpg, The former electoral sign (used prior to 2014) Image:Sigla_pnl.png, Former permanent sign (used prior to 2014)


Leadership

) during the early 1990s, outline=silver Notes: 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9


Presidency span (1990–present)

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1990 till:01/01/2024 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1990 Colors = id:ind value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.8) BarData = barset:PM PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:PM from: 15/01/1990 till: 28/02/1993 color:yelloworange text:"
Radu Câmpeanu Radu-Anton Câmpeanu (; 28 February 1922 - 19 October 2016) was a Romanian politician who was also jurist and economist by profession, after graduating from the University of Bucharest in November 1945. During the interwar period and up until 19 ...
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Theodor Stolojan Theodor Dumitru Stolojan (; born 24 October 1943) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from September 1991 to November 1992. An economist by training, he was also one of the presidents of the National Liberal Party (PNL) bef ...
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Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu (; born 14 January 1952) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 29 December 2004 to 22 December 2008. He was also president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the vice-pre ...
" fontsize:10 from: 20/03/2009 till: 02/06/2014 color:yelloworange text:"
Crin Antonescu George Crin Laurențiu Antonescu (; born 21 September 1959) is a Romanian politician, who was President of the National Liberal Party (PNL) from 2009 to 2014. He also served as the country Acting President after the impeachment of Traian Băsesc ...
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Klaus Iohannis Klaus Werner Iohannis (; ; also spelled Johannis; born 13 June 1959) is a Romanian politician, physicist and former teacher who has been serving as the president of Romania since 2014. He became leader of the National Liberal Party (Romania), Na ...
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Vasile Blaga Vasile Blaga (; born 26 July 1956) is a Romanian politician who was Speaker of the Upper Chamber of the Romanian Parliament, the Senate, from 2011 to 2012. He also served as Minister of Regional Development and Housing and twice as Minister of Ad ...
" fontsize:10 from: 18/12/2014 till: 12/12/2016 color:yelloworange text:"
Alina Gorghiu Alina-Ștefania Gorghiu (; born September 16, 1978) is a Romanian lawyer and politician who served as president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) from December 2014 until December 2016. She was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for ...
" fontsize:10 from: 13/12/2016 till: 17/06/2017 color:yelloworange text:"
Raluca Turcan Raluca Turcan (née Tatarcan; 2 April 1976) is a Romanian politician. A member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), she has been a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Sibiu County since 2004. She has been married to Valeriu Turcan, ...
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Ludovic Orban Ludovic Orban (; born 25 May 1963) is a Romanian engineer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Romania from November 2019 to December 2020. He was president of the National Liberal Party (Romania), National Liberal Party (PNL) betw ...
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Florin Cîțu Florin Vasile Cîțu (; born 1 April 1972) is a Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania between December 2020 and November 2021 (acting (law), acting/ad interim between October and November 2021). Between September 2021 and A ...
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Gheorghe Flutur Gheorghe Flutur (born 8 July 1960 in Botoșana, Suceava County, Romania) is a Romanian politician, member of the National Liberal Party (PNL). He was also a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) as vice-president, since December 2006 u ...
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Nicolae Ciucă Nicolae Ionel Ciucă (; born 7 February 1967) is a Romanian politician and retired General officer, general of the Romanian Land Forces. Ideologically a Conservatism, conservative, he has been serving as Prime Minister of Romania since 25 Novemb ...
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Notable members


Current notable members

* Dinu Zamfirescu, one of the 12 founding members of the PNL in January 1990, former BBC reporter, and human rights activist; * I.V. Săndulescu, one of the 12 founding members of the PNL in January 1990; *
Florin Cîțu Florin Vasile Cîțu (; born 1 April 1972) is a Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania between December 2020 and November 2021 (acting (law), acting/ad interim between October and November 2021). Between September 2021 and A ...
, former party president between 25 September 2021 and 2 April 2022, former Prime Minister between December 2020 and October 2021 (acting between October and November 2021), and former Minister of Public Finance between 2019 and 2020; *
Nicolae Ciucă Nicolae Ionel Ciucă (; born 7 February 1967) is a Romanian politician and retired General officer, general of the Romanian Land Forces. Ideologically a Conservatism, conservative, he has been serving as Prime Minister of Romania since 25 Novemb ...
, current Prime Minister since 25 November 2021, former Minister of National Defence, and former acting Prime Minister in December 2020; *
Emil Boc Emil Boc (; born 6 September 1966) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 22 December 2008 until 6 February 2012 and is the current Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, the largest city of Transylvania, where he was first elected in Ju ...
, Mayor of
Cluj-Napoca ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status , subdivision_name2 ...
, former Prime Minister of Romania (2008–2012); *
Cătălin Predoiu Cătălin Marian Predoiu (; born 27 August 1968, Buzău) is a Romanian lawyer who served as the ad interim Prime Minister of Romania from February 6 to 9 February 2012, following the resignation of Emil Boc. He had previously been the Minister o ...
, current and former Minister of Justice and acting Prime Minister of Romania (2012); *
Leonard Orban Leonard Orban (born 28 June 1961) is a Romanian independent technocrat who served as the Commissioner for Multilingualism in the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union (EU). He was responsible for the EU language policy ...
, economist, former
European Commissioner A European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio. The commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent ...
on
multilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
; *
Crin Antonescu George Crin Laurențiu Antonescu (; born 21 September 1959) is a Romanian politician, who was President of the National Liberal Party (PNL) from 2009 to 2014. He also served as the country Acting President after the impeachment of Traian Băsesc ...
, former party president between 2009 and 2014, former Minister of Youth and Sports, President of the Senate and Acting President of Romania (July–August 2012); *
Vasile Blaga Vasile Blaga (; born 26 July 1956) is a Romanian politician who was Speaker of the Upper Chamber of the Romanian Parliament, the Senate, from 2011 to 2012. He also served as Minister of Regional Development and Housing and twice as Minister of Ad ...
, former co-president of the party between 2014 and 2016, former
President of the Senate of Romania The president of the Senate of Romania is the senator elected to preside over the Senate meetings. The president of the Senate is also the president of the Standing Bureau of the Senate of Romania, Standing Bureau of the Senate, and the first per ...
between 2011 and 2012; *
Alina Gorghiu Alina-Ștefania Gorghiu (; born September 16, 1978) is a Romanian lawyer and politician who served as president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) from December 2014 until December 2016. She was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for ...
, lawyer, former co-president of the party (2014–2016), member of
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 ...
(2008–2016) and former member of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up o ...
, currently
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 ...
of Timiș; *
Nicolae Robu Nicolae Robu (born May 28, 1955) is a Romanian politician, engineer, computer science professor. He was mayor of Timișoara from 2012 until 2020 and the former president of PNL Timiș. He served as rector of the Politehnica University of Timi ...
, the Mayor of
Timișoara ), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor) , image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg , map_caption = Location in Timiș County , pushpin_map = Romania#Europe , pushpin_ ...
between 2012 and 2020, former
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 ...
in
Romanian Parliament The Parliament of Romania ( ro, Parlamentul României) is the national bicameral legislature of Romania, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies ( ro, Camera Deputaților) and the Senate ( ro, Senat). It meets at the Palace of the Parliament in Bu ...
(2008–2012), member of the Central Bureau and the National Executive Council of the party and former
rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of the Politechnic Institute of Timișoara (2004–2012), currently
university professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...
; *
Mircea Hava Mircea Hava (born 26 December 1956 in Oradea, Bihor County, Romania) is a Romanian politician, engineer, and member of the European Parliament. Hava was elected as member of the European Parliament on the list of the National Liberal Party (P ...
, former mayor of
Alba Iulia Alba Iulia (; german: Karlsburg or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; hu, Gyulafehérvár; la, Apulum) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the Mureș River in the historical ...
and current MEP since 2019; * Gheorghe Falcă, former mayor of Arad and current MEP since 2019; *
Raluca Turcan Raluca Turcan (née Tatarcan; 2 April 1976) is a Romanian politician. A member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), she has been a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Sibiu County since 2004. She has been married to Valeriu Turcan, ...
, former acting president of the party in 2017; *
Theodor Stolojan Theodor Dumitru Stolojan (; born 24 October 1943) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from September 1991 to November 1992. An economist by training, he was also one of the presidents of the National Liberal Party (PNL) bef ...
, former president of the party between 2002 and 2004, former Prime Minister of Romania (1991–1992), and MEP; * Andrei Chiliman, former mayor of Sector 1 in Bucharest; * Crin Halaicu, former
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 ...
(1992–1996) and businessman; *
Gheorghe Flutur Gheorghe Flutur (born 8 July 1960 in Botoșana, Suceava County, Romania) is a Romanian politician, member of the National Liberal Party (PNL). He was also a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) as vice-president, since December 2006 u ...
, former ad interim/
acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...
president of the party, current President of the
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 ...
Council, and former Minister of Agriculture; *
Teodor Atanasiu Teodor Atanasiu (; born 23 September 1962) is a Romanian engineer and politician. A member of the National Liberal Party (Romania), National Liberal Party (PNL), he was Ministry of National Defense (Romania), Minister of National Defence in the C ...
, former Minister of National Defence; *
Eugen Nicolăescu Gheorghe-Eugen Nicolăescu (born 2 August 1955) is a Romanian economist and politician. A member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), he was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Mureș County from 2000 to 2008 and has represented Căl ...
, former Minister of Health; *
Daniel Dăianu Daniel Dăianu (born 30 August 1952) is a Romanian economist, professor, and politician. Early life He was born in Bucharest, Romania in a family of high-ranking Securitate officers. Up to 9th grade he studied at High School nr. 35, after which ...
, MEP, former Minister of Finance, and member of the
Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...
; *
Siegfried Mureșan Siegfried Mureșan (born 20 September 1981) is a Romanian economist and politician, vice-president of the European People's Party (EPP) since November 2019, vice-president of the European People's Party Group (EPP Group) in the European Parliamen ...
, MEP, spokesman and vice-president of the
European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...
; *
Andrei Marga Andrei Marga (; born 22 May 1946) is a Romanian philosopher, political scientist, and politician. Rector – for the second time – of the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, he was a member of the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Pa ...
, former Minister of Education, Minister of External Affairs and
rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of the
Babeș-Bolyai University The Babeș-Bolyai University ( ro, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai , hu, Babeș-Bolyai Tudományegyetem, commonly known as UBB) is a public research university located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. UBB has a long academic tradition, started by Universitas ...
; * Hermann Fabini, architect, art historian, and former senator; * Ion Lungu, current mayor of
Suceava Suceava () is the largest urban settlement and the seat town ( ro, oraș reședință de județ) of Suceava County, situated in the historical region of Bukovina, northeastern Romania, and at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central and Eastern E ...
since 2004; *
Roberta Anastase Roberta Alma Anastase (; born 27 March 1976 in Ploiești, Socialist Republic of Romania, Romania) is a Romanian politician and former first female President of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania, President of Chamber of Deputies of Romania, the C ...
, former
President of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania The President of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania is the deputy elected to preside over the meetings in the lower chamber of the Parliament of Romania. The President of the Chamber of Deputies is also the president of the Standing Bureau of t ...
(2008–2012); *
Adrian Cioroianu Adrian Mihai Cioroianu (born January 5, 1967, Craiova, Romania) is a Romanian historian, politician, journalist, and essayist. A lecturer for the History Department at the University of Bucharest, he is the author of several books dealing with R ...
, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, historian and journalist; * Ovidiu Raețchi, political analyst; *
Adriana Săftoiu Ana Adriana Săftoiu (born 11 September 1967) is a Romanian journalist and politician. While a member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), she was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Bucharest in December 2004, and represented Praho ...
, spokeswoman and political advisor; *
Sorin Cîmpeanu Mihai Cîmpeanu () is a Romanian politician who served as Minister of Education in Ciucă Cabinet. He had previously held the same position in Ponta IV and Cîțu cabinets, and, between 5 and 17 November 2015, acted as Prime Minister of Roma ...
, current and former Minister of National Education; * Daniel Constantin, former
Deputy Prime Minister of Romania The Deputy Prime Minister of Romania ( ro, Vice prim ministru României), officially the Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Romania ( ro, Vice prim ministru Guvernului României), is a minister in the Government of Romania. It is consider ...
, former Minister of Environment, and former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.


Former notable members

*
Klaus Iohannis Klaus Werner Iohannis (; ; also spelled Johannis; born 13 June 1959) is a Romanian politician, physicist and former teacher who has been serving as the president of Romania since 2014. He became leader of the National Liberal Party (Romania), Na ...
, 5th and incumbent
President of Romania The president of Romania ( ro, Președintele României) is the head of state of Romania. Following a modification to the Constitution of Romania, Romanian Constitution in 2003, the president is directly elected by a two-round system and serves ...
; *
Ludovic Orban Ludovic Orban (; born 25 May 1963) is a Romanian engineer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Romania from November 2019 to December 2020. He was president of the National Liberal Party (Romania), National Liberal Party (PNL) betw ...
, former party president and former Prime Minister of Romania between 2019 and 2020, former Minister of Transport between 2007 and 2008; *
Eduard Hellvig Eduard Raul Hellvig (born 27 October 1974) is a Romanian political scientist, journalist and politician who has served as director of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) since 2015. A former member of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and pre ...
, Member of the European Parliament and current Director of the
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Electoral history


Legislative elections

Notes: 1 The members of the CDR were the PNȚCD (with 25 senators and 81 deputies), the PNL, the PNL-CD (with 1 senator and 4 deputies), the PAR (with 3 senators and 3 deputies), the
PER Per is a Latin preposition which means "through" or "for each", as in per capita. Per or PER may also refer to: Places * IOC country code for Peru * Pér, a village in Hungary * Chapman code for Perthshire, historic county in Scotland Math ...
(with 1 senator and 5 deputies), and the Ecologist Federation of Romania (FER - with 1 senator and 1 deputy).

2 The members of the
Justice and Truth Alliance The Justice and Truth Alliance (originally in ro, Alianţa Dreptate şi Adevăr; or D.A. for short, meaning "yes" in Romanian) was a political alliance comprising two political parties in Romania, namely the centre-right liberal National Libera ...
(DA) alliance were the PNL and the PD (with 21 senators and 48 deputies).

3 The
Social Liberal Union The Social Liberal Union ( ro, Uniunea Social Liberală, USL) was a grand coalition of several political parties in Romania. The alliance contained two major centre-left and centre-right parties, more specifically the Social Democratic Party (PSD ...
(USL) was a larger political alliance comprising two other smaller political alliances as follows: the
Centre Left Alliance The Centre Left Alliance (Romanian: ''Alianţa de Centru Stânga'', ACS) was a political alliance between the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR) founded in August 2012. The alliance was par ...
(ACS) and the
Centre Right Alliance The Centre Right Alliance ( ro, Alianţa de Centru Dreapta, ACD) was a centre-right political alliance between 2011 and 2013. History Formation The alliance was founded in January 2011 by the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Conservative ...
(ACD). The
Centre Left Alliance The Centre Left Alliance (Romanian: ''Alianţa de Centru Stânga'', ACS) was a political alliance between the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR) founded in August 2012. The alliance was par ...
(ACS) members were the
PSD PSD may refer to: Educational bodies * Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, a Pre-K to 12th grade school for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students, located in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania * Philippine School Doha, a Filipino scho ...
and the UNPR (with 5 senators and 10 deputies). The members of the
Centre Right Alliance The Centre Right Alliance ( ro, Alianţa de Centru Dreapta, ACD) was a centre-right political alliance between 2011 and 2013. History Formation The alliance was founded in January 2011 by the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Conservative ...
(ACD) were the PNL (with 51 senators and 101 deputies) and the PC (with 8 senators and 13 deputies). Furthermore, de facto, the PNL became the 2nd largest political party in the Romanian Parliament in the wake of the 2012 Romanian legislative election.
ImageSize = width:1300 height:250 PlotArea = width:1100 height:150 left:50 bottom:50 AlignBars = justify DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:60.1 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:0 Colors = id:SB value:rgb(0.255, 0.155, 0.255) PlotData = bar:% color:yellow width:15 mark:(line, white) align:left fontsize:S bar:1990 from:start till:7.06 text:7.06 bar:1992 from:start till:2.66 text:2.66 bar:1996 from:start till:30.70 text:30.70 bar:2000 from:start till:7.48 text:7.48 bar:2004 from:start till:31.77 text:31.77 bar:2008 from:start till:18.74 text:18.74 bar:2012 from:start till:60.10 text:60.10 bar:2016 from:start till:20.42 text:20.42 bar:2020 from:start till:25.58 text:25.58


Local elections


National results


Mayor of Bucharest

; Notes 1 2 3 4


County Council


Presidential elections

Notes: 1 Emil Constantinescu was the common centre-right candidate that was endorsed by the PNL in both 1992 and 1996 as part of the larger
Romanian Democratic Convention The Romanian Democratic Convention ( ro, Convenţia Democrată Română or Convenția Democratică Română; abbreviated CDR) was an electoral alliance of several democratic, anti-Communist, anti-totalitarian, and centre-right political parties i ...
(CDR).

2 Traian Băsescu was the common centre-right candidate that was endorsed by the PNL in 2004 as part of the
Justice and Truth Alliance The Justice and Truth Alliance (originally in ro, Alianţa Dreptate şi Adevăr; or D.A. for short, meaning "yes" in Romanian) was a political alliance comprising two political parties in Romania, namely the centre-right liberal National Libera ...
(DA) alongside the now defunct
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 ...
(PD).

3 Although Klaus Iohannis was a member of the PNL, he was the common centre-right candidate that was endorsed by the party in 2014 as part of the
Christian Liberal Alliance The Christian Liberal Alliance ( ro, Alianța Creștin-Liberală, ACL), also known as the PNL-PDL Alliance ( ro, Alianța PNL-PDL), was a centre-right electoral alliance in Romania. The alliance was founded on 28 July 2014 by the National Liberal ...
(ACL) alongside the now longtime defunct Democratic Liberal Party (PDL).


European Parliament elections

Notes: 1 During the 2004–09 EU parliament session, the
Parliament of Romania The Parliament of Romania ( ro, Parlamentul României) is the national bicameral legislature of Romania, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies ( ro, Camera Deputaților) and the Senate ( ro, Senat). It meets at the Palace of the Parliament i ...
sent 7 delegates on behalf of the PNL to Brussels, Belgium.

2 Subsequently, sought permission to adhere to the
European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Ch ...
(EPP) as well as to its affiliated EU Parliament group and had been successfully accepted within it as a full member in the meantime.


See also

* National Liberal Party (Republic of Moldova) *
Liberalism and radicalism in Romania This article gives an overview of liberalism and radicalism in Romania. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in this scheme. Fo ...
*
List of political parties in Romania This article lists political parties in Romania. Romania has a democratic multi-party system with numerous political parties, in which a political party does not often have the chance of gaining parliamentary majority alone, and, thus, parties m ...
*
List of liberal parties This article gives information on liberalism worldwide. It is an overview of parties that adhere to some form of liberalism and is therefore a list of liberal parties around the world. Introduction The definition of liberal party is highly deba ...


Notes


References


Further reading


PNL website retrieved 8 September 2012
* Cliveti, Gheorghe, Liberalismul românesc. Eseu istoriografic, Editura Fundației "AXIS", Iași, 1996; * Istoricul PNL de la 1848 până astăzi, București, 1923; * Rădulescu – Zoner, Șerban (coord.), Cliveti, Gheorghe, Stan, Apostol, Onişoru, Gheorghe, Șandru, Dumitru, Istoria Partidului Național Liberal, Editura All, București, 2000; * Stan, Apostol, Iosa, Mircea, Liberalismul politic în România. De la origini până la 1918, Editura Enciclopedică, București, 1996; * Naumescu, Valentin, Despre liberalism în România. Realităţi, dileme, perspective, EFES, Cluj-Napoca, 2001; * Șomlea, Vasile-Florin, Mișcarea liberală din România post'1989, Editura Ecumenica Press, Cluj-Napoca, 2006.


External links


Official website

League of the Local Representatives of the National Liberal Party official site
{{Authority control National Liberal Party Conservative parties in Romania Liberal conservative parties Liberal parties in Romania 1990 establishments in Romania