Bogdan Niculescu-Duvăz (; December 14, 1949 – November 16, 2019) was a

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

n politician and architect. A member and twice minister of the Democratic Party (PD), he joined 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 Form ...

in 2003, and was again a minister in 2004. Niculescu-Duvăz was a member of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

between 1990 and 2016.

Biography

Early life

Born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, he graduated from the Ion Mincu Institute in 1977, and subsequently worked as architect for the Urban Planning Institute in

Tulcea Tulcea (; also known by #Names, alternative names) is a city in Northern Dobruja, Romania. It is the administrative center of Tulcea County, and had a population of 65,624 . One village, Tudor Vladimirescu, is administered by the city. It is one ...

, then as a designer for the Bucharest Home Appliances Research Institute, and ultimately as a designer of lighting appliances for the Carpaţi Institute.Profile at the Chamber of Deputies site
/ref> He entered politics in early 1990, in the wake of the

Romanian Revolution The Romanian revolution () was a period of violent Civil disorder, civil unrest in Socialist Republic of Romania, Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around the world, primarily ...

, joining the National Salvation Front (FSN), becoming its Secretary and, in 1991, Vice President. In January 1990, Niculescu-Duvăz also joined the provisional governing body (the Provisional National Unity Council, CPUN), as a simple member.

Career

In the 1990 elections, he won a seat in the Chamber, representing Bucharest. He became a Minister of Youth and Sport in the second

Petre Roman Petre Roman (; born 22 July 1946) is a Romanian engineer and politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 1989 to 1991, when his Third Roman cabinet, government was overthrown by the Mineriad, intervention of the miners led by Miron Cozma ...

cabinet (June 1990), resigning his position in the Chamber in late July. In early 1992, following the

September 1991 Mineriad September 1991 Mineriad was a political action and physical confrontation between the miners of the Jiu Valley and the Romanian authorities, that led to the resignation of Prime Minister Petre Roman's government. Led by Miron Cozma, president of t ...

and Roman's resignation from office, Niculescu-Duvăz joined the latter in creating the opposition wing of the FSN, which was to become the PD in 1993. After briefly serving on the Bucharest City Council in early 1992, Niculescu-Duvăz was reelected to the Chamber in the

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and 1996 suffrages, representing

Constanța County Constanța () is a Counties of Romania, county (județ) of Romania on the Bulgaria–Romania border, border with Bulgaria, in the Dobruja region. Its capital city is also named Constanța. Demographics In 2021, it had a population of 655,997 ...

, and served on the Chamber Committee for Public Administration and Territorial Improvement. He joined

Victor Ciorbea Victor Ciorbea (; born on 26 October 1954) is a Romanian jurist, politician, and civil/public servant. He was the Mayor of Bucharest between 1996 and 1997 and, after his resignation from this public dignity/position, Prime Minister of Romania fr ...

's coalition government, created around the

Romanian Democratic Convention The Romanian Democratic Convention (; abbreviated CDR) was an electoral alliance of several democratic, anti-communist, anti-totalitarian, and centre-right political parties in Romania, active from 1991 until 2000. The most prominent leaders o ...

, holding the office of Minister for Relations with

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 ...

(1996-1998). He was the PD's Vice President, and, during the elections of 2000, its campaign coordinator. Also in 2000, Niculescu-Duvăz was again elected a deputy for Constanţa County, and was delegated to the Parliamentary Assembly of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

, briefly serving on several of its Commissions. From February to November of the same year, he was Vice President of the Chamber. He resigned from the PD in 2003, and soon after joined the PSD, becoming the Executive Secretary of its National Bureau. A Quaestor of the Chamber in September 2002 and a member of several Committees (Foreign Policy, European Integration, and the Common Committee of the Chamber and

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 ...

for Drafting Legislative Proposals in Respect to Electoral Laws), Niculescu-Duvăz was again assigned to a ministerial position in

Adrian Năstase Adrian Năstase (; born 22 June 1950) is a Romanian jurist, academic/professor, blogger, and former politician who served as the prime minister of Romania from December 2000 to December 2004. He competed in the 2004 Romanian presidential elect ...

's executive, serving as Minister-Delegate for Relations with the Social Partners (July–December 2004). Former

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

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, Romanian Revolution of 1989, Constantinescu became a founding member ...

alleged, in 2005 and 2006, that his successor and former PD president

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a Romanian politician who served as the president of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian minister of transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, ...

had been a member of

Communist Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania (, RSR) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist One-party state, one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989 (see Revolutions of 1989). From 1947 to 1965, the state was ...

's secret police, the

Securitate The Department of State Security (), commonly known as the Securitate (, ), was the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. It was founded on 30 August 1948 from the '' Siguranța'' with help and direction from the Soviet MG ...

, and contended that, together with Petre Roman and Victor Babiuc, Niculescu-Duvăz had witnessed Băsescu's acknowledgment that this was the case."Lista lui Emil" ("Emil's List")
in ''

Ziua ''Ziua'' ('', The Day'') was a major Romanian daily newspaper published in Bucharest. It was published in Romanian, with a fairly sizeable and often informative English section. ''Ziua'' was founded in 1994 by , eventually becoming foreign-owned ...

'', December 14, 2005 (hosted by kappa.ro)"Constantinescu: Dosarul preşedintelui Băsescu, distrus!" ("Constantinescu: 'President Băsescu's File - Destroyed!'")
, in ''

Gardianul ''Gardianul'' ("The Guardian") was a Romanian daily newspaper published in Bucharest. It claimed to have had an anti-corruption stance, investigating organized crime and high-level corruption. The newspaper was founded in 2002 by Şerban Roibu, ...

'', August 16, 2006 (hosted by kappa.ro) Constantinescu repeatedly asked for the three alleged witnesses to be summoned for a hearing with the CNSAS (the Council charged with investigating Securitate affiliations). In early 2007, Bogdan Niculescu-Duvăz voiced the PSD's calls for the first

Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu (; born 14 January 1952) is a Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Romania, prime minister of Romania from 2004 to 2008. He was also president of the National Liberal Party (Romania), Na ...

Justice and Truth The Justice and Truth Alliance (originally in ; 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 Liberal Party (PNL) and the initially le ...

government to undergo restructuring, while contending that the latter's realignment along with the National Liberal Party was not a solution to crisis."PSD: Restructurarea este o necesitate imperioasă" ("PSD: Restructuring Is a Manifest Necessity")
in ''

'', February 26, 2007

Personal

Niculescu-Duvăz was married and the father of two. He was a

trophy hunter Trophy hunting is a form of hunting for sport in which parts of the hunted wild animals are kept and displayed as trophies. The animal being targeted, known as the "game", is typically a mature male specimen from a popular species of collectable ...

, a member of the General Association of Sport Hunters and Fishermen (since 1990), and founder of the Romanian

yacht club A yacht club is a boat club specifically related to yachting. Description Yacht clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a mar ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niculescu-Duvaz, Bogdan 1949 births 2019 deaths Democratic Liberal Party (Romania) politicians Social Democratic Party (Romania) politicians Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) Architects from Bucharest Romanian public relations people Politicians from Bucharest Members of the Romanian Cabinet