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Dacian Julien CioloÈ™ (; 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 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 ...
between October 2007 and December 2008. In November 2009,
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
President
José Manuel Barroso José Manuel Durão Barroso (; born 23 March 1956) is a Portuguese politician and law professor. He previously served from 2002 to 2004 as the List of Prime Ministers of Portugal, 114th prime minister of Portugal and from 2004–2014 as the 11 ...
nominated him to be the next Agriculture Commissioner, a position he assumed in February 2010 and held until his term expired in November 2014. In November 2015, President Klaus Iohannis named him prime minister; CioloÈ™ assumed office after receiving approval from
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 ...
. He remained until after the 2016 parliamentary election, which was lost by the parties that called for Cioloș to continue his term. Cioloș is the founder of the Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (PLUS) within the larger former political construction USR PLUS (2019–2021). Between October 2021 and February 2022, he led the Save Romania Union (USR), into which the party he founded was merged. In May 2019, he was elected a
Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...
(MEP), subsequently becoming leader of the new Renew Europe
political group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...
. He relinquished the leadership upon becoming USR president. In October 2021, following the ousting of Prime Minister Florin Cîțu through a motion of no-confidence, President Iohannis nominated Cioloș as Prime Minister-designate but the Parliament rejected the proposal. The following year in May, he quit USR and launched a new party, REPER.


Biography


Background and government career

He was born in Zalău, but spent much of his childhood with his grandparents in nearby Pericei village, where he developed an interest in farming. After graduating from the agricultural high school in Șimleu Silvaniei in 1987, he attended the Faculty of Horticulture at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, earning a horticultural engineer's degree in 1994. While a student, Cioloș belonged to the Romanian Hearth Union’s youth wing; he states that his activities there were of a cultural nature, and had nothing to do with the party's extreme nationalist stance. He also holds degrees in the economy of agricultural development from the École nationale supérieure agronomique de Rennes and from the University of Montpellier 1, where he respectively earned a master's in 1997 and a doctorate in 2006. He has belonged to the agricultural
think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
Groupe de Bruges since 2000. Profile at the Romanian Government site; accessed October 12, 2009 Although in Romania CioloÈ™ was a political independent, he was affiliated with the
European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian democracy, Christian democratic, liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other p ...
(EPP) at the European level. From 1991 to 1996, CioloÈ™ completed thirteen months' worth of internships on organic farms in the French region of
Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
. In the summer of 1995, he prepared a rural development project between
Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population o ...
and ArgeÈ™ County, while working at the
Aveyron Aveyron (; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France. It was named after the river Aveyron (river), Aveyron. Its inhabitants are known as ''Aveyro ...
agricultural chamber of commerce in Rodez during 1997, studying agricultural and rural development in the northern part of that department. In 1997 and 1999, he interned as an agro-economist at the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development in
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, helping prepare the Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (SAPARD). In 1998–1999, he directed a local rural development programme in Argeș County, again cooperating with Savoie. From 1999 to 2001, he worked at two agricultural development agencies in France, coordinating joint programmes with Romania in that field. From 2002 to 2003, as part of the European Commission's delegation to Romania, he helped manage SAPARD's implementation in his native country. From January 2005 to May 2007, he was an adviser to Romania's Agriculture Minister, and a representative in the
Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...
's Special Committee on Agriculture. From May to October 2007, he was undersecretary of state for European affairs at the ministry. Following the resignation of Decebal Traian Remeș due to a corruption scandal, he was appointed Agriculture Minister in October 2007, serving until the following December, when Tăriceanu's National Liberal Party-led government left office after a parliamentary election. Early in 2009, he returned to work at the Agriculture and Rural Development DG, and that July, President Traian Băsescu named him to head a one-year commission looking at public agricultural development policies.


Nomination and term as EU Commissioner for Agriculture

In October 2009, the Emil Boc government, hoping to secure the Agriculture portfolio in the second
Barroso Commission The Barroso Commission was the European Commission in office from 22 November 2004 until 31 October 2014. Its President of the European Commission, president was José Durão Barroso, who presided over 27 other commissioners (one from Member sta ...
, nominated CioloÈ™ as Romania's EU Commissioner. The proposal was criticised by the opposition National Liberals (PNL) and
Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...
(PSD), who saw it as a last-ditch maneuver by a government on the brink of collapse, as well as by the Party of European Socialists, who believed that the position ought to have gone to a Social Democrat. Dan Carp, "Cioloș aruncat în luptă" ("Cioloș Thrown into Battle"), ''Ziua'', 13 October 2009; accessed 13 October 2009 Boc's cabinet did indeed collapse the day after nominating Cioloș, when it lost a
motion of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...
. At the end of November, Barroso nominated CioloÈ™ to the Agriculture position, observing that he was the "most competent" of those submitted for consideration, and lauding his "modern vision" of agriculture and rural development. The
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
magazine ''
Farmers Weekly ''Farmers Weekly'' is a magazine aimed at the British farming industry. It provides news; business features; a weekly digest of facts and figures about British, European and world agriculture; and livestock, arable and machinery sections wi ...
'' considered the nomination "a controversial choice", citing recent mismanagement by Romania of EU funds, but also acknowledged his "broad agricultural experience". England and Wales' National Farmers Union as well as Scotland's NFU welcomed the appointment. Italian Minister of Agriculture Luca Zaia and French President Nicolas Sarkozy likewise congratulated CioloÈ™. German news agency
Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (abbreviated as dpa; ) is a German news agency founded in 1949. Based in Hamburg, it has grown to be a major worldwide operation serving print media, radio, television, online, mobile phones, and national news agen ...
and British newspaper ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' both criticised the nomination due to the funds mismanagement issue, with French daily '' Ouest-France'' alleging that the cause of British indignation was the perception that CioloÈ™ would be akin to a second French EU Commissioner, given his close ties to that country. After winning approval from the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two 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 ...
in February 2010, CioloÈ™ set forth his priority: maintaining a "thriving agricultural sector" in order to ensure
food security Food security is the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, healthy Human food, food. The availability of food for people of any class, gender, ethnicity, or religion is another element of food protection. Simila ...
, environmental preservation and protection of the countryside, help combat
global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...
and maintain a "fair standard of living" for farmers. As part of this objective, he promised to continue adapting and restructuring the
Common Agricultural Policy The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the agricultural policy of the European Commission. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has since then undergone several changes to reduce ...
. In July 2015, Barroso's successor
Jean-Claude Juncker Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who was List of prime ministers of Luxembourg, prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also was List ...
named CioloÈ™ as his special adviser on international food security.


As Prime Minister

In November 2015,
Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Victor Ponta resigned following protests sparked by a deadly nightclub fire, and President Klaus Iohannis appointed CioloÈ™ as his successor. The latter proposed a technocratic cabinet composed of twenty-one members, a third of them women. The cabinet won approval from
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 ...
on a 389–115 vote: the main
Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...
(PSD) and National Liberals (PNL) were both in favour, although a number of legislators from the former party defied the leadership to vote against the cabinet. Additionally, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) was opposed. He considers his two main achievements while in office to have been an increase in transparency, including the online release of salaries and expenditures for public institutions and financing contracts; and a reduction in bureaucracy that involved the elimination of numerous formalities. Ahead of the 2016 parliamentary election, CioloÈ™ received the endorsement on behalf of the National Liberals (PNL) and of the Save Romania Union (USR), in turn urging voters to back either party. When these parties lost the election, the prime minister expressed his regret; the following month, he was succeeded by Sorin Grindeanu.


Return to politics

In March 2018, CioloÈ™ announced the creation of a new political party, the Romania Together Movement. Because the legal registration of the new political party took too long, CioloÈ™ announced on 15 December 2018 the existence of a new party, already registered by some anonymous collaborators, called the Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (, PLUS), thus dropping the former political project. In January 2019, at the first national convention of PLUS, CioloÈ™ was elected president of the newly emerged political party with 99.17% of the votes. The following month, CioloÈ™ announced the establishment of the 2020 USR-PLUS Alliance between PLUS and the Dan Barna-led Save Romania Union (USR). That May, he was elected a
Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...
. He subsequently became leader of the new Renew Europe
political group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...
, having secured support from En Marche, Ciudadanos and parties from Germany and the Netherlands. He left that post in autumn 2021 in order to focus on domestic politics. In October 2021, following the merger of USR with PLUS, Cioloș was elected the first president of the unified party, defeating Barna on a 50.9 to 49.1 margin. Later that month, following the collapse of the Florin Cîțu government, Iohannis once again named Cioloș as prime minister. Cioloș and his proposed cabinet were voted down in Parliament, on a vote of 88–184. In February 2022, after his program was rejected by subordinates in the USR leadership, Cioloș resigned as party president. That May, he quit USR altogether, citing dissatisfaction with the new leadership, and launched a new party, Renewing Romania's European Project (REPER). At the 2024 European Parliament election, REPER failed to secure the threshold, and Cioloș lost his seat. He subsequently announced his withdrawal from electoral politics.


Personal life

In 2000, Cioloș married Valérie Villemin, a French agriculture expert he met while studying in France. The ceremony took place in his grandparents' village of Pericei. The couple have no children. He has a younger brother, Sorin. His father insisted on ''Dacian'' as a first name, while his French middle name comes from Julien Sorel, protagonist of '' The Red and the Black'', a book that Cioloș's mother read while pregnant with him. Cioloș is a member of the
Romanian Orthodox Church The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; , ), or Romanian Patriarchate, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates in the East ...
.


See also

* CioloÈ™ Cabinet


References


External links


Curriculum Vitae
at the European Commission site , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ciolos, Dacian 1969 births Independent politicians in Romania Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party politicians Living people Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church MEPs for Romania 2019–2024 People from Zalău Prime ministers of Romania Romanian engineers Romanian European commissioners Ministers of agriculture of Romania