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) before being the founding leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) and then the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL). He was a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

for

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

, representing the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) and then the National Liberal Party (PNL; both

EPP-ED 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 MEPs ...

-affiliated).

Career

Before the

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 ...

he worked at the Committee for State Planning, together with

Nicolae Văcăroiu Nicolae Văcăroiu (; born on 5 December 1943 in Cetatea Albă, now Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi in Ukraine) is a Romanian politician, member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), who served as Prime Minister between 1992 and 1996. Before the 198 ...

, who was President of the Senate between 20 December 2000 and 14 October 2008. During the rule of

Nicolae Ceauşescu Nicolae may refer to: * Nicolae (name), a Romanian name * ''Nicolae'' (novel), a 1997 novel See also *Nicolai (disambiguation) Nicolai may refer to: *Nicolai (given name) people with the forename ''Nicolai'' *Nicolai (surname) people with the s ...

he worked at the Ministry of Finances between 1972 and 1977 as an economist in the State Budget Department, then between 1978 and 1982 as Chief of Accountancy of State Budget and then as deputy director of the Department for Foreign Exchange and International Financial Relations until the

. He was the Prime minister of Romania from September 1991 to November 1992, then worked for the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

and for a Romanian private company. In 1992, the Stolojan government began an austerity plan, limiting wages and further liberalising prices. The economic situation deteriorated and inflation as well as

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refere ...

increased substantially. In 2000, he re-entered politics as a member of the National Liberal Party (PNL); he ran for the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

of Romania in the November 2000 elections, but came in third, 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 ...

and Corneliu Vadim Tudor. He was named president of the PNL in August 2002. In 2003, his party approached the Democratic Party leader

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 ...

, at that time the mayor 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 ...

, and initiated an alliance named "''D.A. - Dreptate şi Adevăr''" (

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 ...

). In February 2004, he was chosen as the alliance's candidate in the Romanian presidential election of November 2004. On 2 October 2004, Stolojan surprisingly stepped down from the leadership of the PNL and also withdrew from the presidential race. He cited serious health problems as a reason for his decision. Stolojan became a senior advisor to Băsescu after the latter was inaugurated as president on 20 December 2004. On 10 October 2006, Stolojan was expelled from the PNL, and in December he formed a new party, the Liberal Democrats (PLD), whose president he was elected at the first PLD congress on 31 March 2007. In January 2008, the PLD merged with the Democratic Party to form the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), of which Stolojan was then a member. The PDL won the most seats in the 2008 election, and on 10 December 2008, Stolojan was designated prime minister of Romania by President

. Five days later, he withdrew his acceptance, saying he was stepping down in favour of a younger candidate;

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 ...

was then selected.

Personal life

He and his wife Elena have a son, Vlad Stolojan, and a daughter, Ada Palea.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Stolojan, Theodor 1943 births Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies alumni Candidates for President of Romania Chairpersons of the National Liberal Party (Romania) Democratic Liberal Party (Romania) MEPs Living people MEPs for Romania 2007–2009 MEPs for Romania 2009–2014 People from Târgoviște Prime Ministers of Romania Romanian economists Romanian Ministers of Finance Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church Romanian presidential advisors MEPs for Romania 2014–2019 National Salvation Front (Romania) politicians Romanian Communist Party politicians