Iurie Leancă (; born 20 October 1963) is a
Moldova
Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...
n politician who was the
prime minister of Moldova
The prime minister of Moldova () is Moldova's head of government. The prime minister is formally appointed by the president of Moldova and exercises executive power along with the Cabinet of Moldova, cabinet, subject to Parliament of Moldova, p ...
from 2013 until 2015. He was
Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration from 2009 to 2013 as part of the
First and
Second Filat Cabinet.
Early career
Iurie Leancă was born on 20 October 1963 in
Cimișlia. His father is
Moldovan and his mother
Bulgarian. He graduated from
Moscow State Institute of International Relations
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) (, also known as MGIMO University) is an higher education, institute of higher education located in Moscow, Russia. The institute is run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Russian ...
and from 1986 until 1993, Leancă worked at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...
. Between June and October 1989, he served as second secretary at the Soviet embassy in Bucharest, Romania, first secretary in the political department of the foreign ministry of the
Soviet Moldavia (1989–1990), and counselor of Moldova's Minister of Foreign Affairs specializing in European affairs (1990–1993).
[Brezianu, Andrei, ''Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Moldova''. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., Lanham, ]Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
, 2000, 112.
Between 1993 and 1997, he was the Minister-Counselor at the Embassy of Moldova in
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
Then, he was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1998 to 1999 and First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2002, in the
Alliance for Democracy and Reforms cabinets and in the
Vasile Tarlev Cabinet (1). Also, he was the acting
Foreign Minister of Moldova from 27 July to 4 September 2001.
In October 2001 I.Leancă tendered his resignation expressing thus his disagreement with the foreign policy objectives of the Communist Party of Moldova which came to power earlier that year. Following his resignation, he worked as the
Ascom Group deputy CEO (2001–2005, 2007–2009). He worked also as a Senior Adviser to the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the p ...
High Commissioner on National Minorities (2005–2007).
In January 2009 I.Leanca became a member of the
Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova
The Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (, PLDM) is a conservative political party in Moldova. The party is led by Tudor Deliu. Until 2016, PLDM was led by Vlad Filat, who was Prime Minister of Moldova from 2009 to 2013, in two cabinets. Immedi ...
(PLDM). He was elected as MP in
April 2009 election and
July 2009 election. He resigned from the PLDM in early 2015, citing an insufficient commitment to pursuing pro-European reforms.
Leancă was also the vice-president of The Foreign Policy Association of Moldova (2005–2009).
Foreign and European Integration Minister
Leancă was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Integration in the
Vlad Filat Cabinet.
In a press conference on 21 October Leancă announced that official negotiations on the Moldova–
EU association agreement
A European Union Association Agreement or simply Association Agreement (AA) is a treaty between the European Union (EU, or its predecessors), its Member States and a non-EU country or bloc of countries that governs bilateral relations. Areas fre ...
would start on 12 January 2010.
He is married to Aida Leancă and has two children.
He speaks Romanian, Russian, English, French, Hungarian, and Bulgarian.
Prime minister
He was appointed acting prime minister on 25 April 2013 following the decision of the
Constitutional Court of Moldova
The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova () represents the sole body of constitutional jurisdiction in the Moldova, Republic of Moldova, autonomous and independent from the executive, the legislature and the judiciary.
The task of the ...
to prevent then acting prime minister
Vlad Filat from being reappointed to the position he had held since 2009. In May 2013, Leancă was proposed by the PLDM as its candidate for prime minister. On 15 May, he was designated prime minister by the president
Nicolae Timofti
Nicolae Timofti (; born 22 December 1948) is a Moldovan jurist and politician who was President of Moldova from 23 March 2012 until 23 December 2016. He served as head of Moldova's Superior Magistrate Council and was 2011–2012 Moldovan preside ...
and invited to form a government. Negotiations continued until 29 May 2013, when the
Pro-European Coalition
The Pro-European Coalition () was the ruling coalition in Moldova from 30 May 2013 until 18 February 2015. Its leaders were Vlad Filat, Marian Lupu, and Ion Hadârcă. The previous Alliance for European Integration collapsed after it lost a ...
between the
Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM),
Democratic Party (PDM) and a break-away faction from the Liberal Party (PL), namely the
Liberal Reformist Party (PLR), was agreed upon. The new government received the support of 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 ...
with 58 votes on 30 May and was sworn in on 31 May.
European Parliament candidacy
Leancă ran in the
2019 European Parliament election in Romania as an MEP candidate for the
Victor Ponta
Victor Viorel Ponta (; born 20 September 1972) is a Romanian politician and jurist who served as Prime Minister of Romania from 2012 to 2015. He was president of the Social Democratic Party (Romania), Social Democratic Party (PSD) from 2010 to ...
's recently founded
PRO Romania
PRO Romania (, PRO) is an extra-parliamentary social liberal political party in Romania.
History
The founding of PRO Romania was initiated in 2017 by former Prime Minister Victor Ponta, former acting/ad interim Prime Minister and Minister o ...
party.
References
External links
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European IntegrationGovernment of Moldova
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leanca, Iurie
1963 births
Bessarabian Bulgarians
Deputy prime ministers of Moldova
Foreign ministers of Moldova
Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova MPs
Moldovan MPs 2014–2019
Living people
Moldovan diplomats
Moldovan MPs 2009
Moldovan MPs 2009–2010
Moldovan people of Bulgarian descent
Moscow State Institute of International Relations alumni
People from Cimișlia District
Prime ministers of Moldova