Titus Corlățean (; born 11 January 1968) is 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 diplomat, former Minister of Justice and of Foreign Affairs. He is a member 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 Form ...

(PSD), part of the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...

, and was elected to 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 ...

for

Brașov County Brașov County () is a county (județ) of Transylvania, Romania. Its capital city is Brașov. The county incorporates within its boundaries most of the Medieval "lands" (''țări'') Burzenland and Făgăraș. Name In Hungarian language, Hungari ...

in the 2004 elections.

Early life and education

Corlățean was born in

Medgidia Medgidia ( or ; historical Turkish names: ''Karasu'' or ''Carasu'', ''Mecidiye'' or ''Megidie'') is a city in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, south-eastern Romania. History Archaeological findings show that Dobruja was inhabited since the ...

, and graduated from the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...

's Faculty of Law in 1994. He also earned a certificate from the International Institute of the

École nationale d'administration The (; ENA; ) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by the then Provisional Government of the French Republic, provisional chief of government Charles de Gaulle and principal co-author of the Constitution of France, 1958 Constitution M ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(1995).

Diplomatic career

Between 1994 and 2001, Corlățean worked as a diplomat in 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 ...

, before joining

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 ...

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 Chancellery in 2001–2003 (first as Adviser on Foreign Policy Issues, and, after 2003, as Secretary of State for the

Romanian Diaspora The Romanian diaspora is the Romanians, ethnically Romanian population outside Romania and Moldova. The concept does not usually include the ethnic Romanians who live as natives in nearby states, chiefly those Romanians who live in Ukraine, Hun ...

Political career

Corlățean has been a member of the PSD since 2002, serving as spokesperson for its Coordinating Committee after 2004. Corlățean became an appointed

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 ...

on 1 January 2007, with the

accession of Romania to the European Union On 1 January 2007, Bulgaria and Romania became member states of the European Union (EU) in the fifth wave of EU enlargement. Bulgaria and Romania did not have a referendum related to European Union accession. Negotiations Romania was the f ...

. He was elected to that body late in the same year. During his tenure, he served on the

Committee on Legal Affairs The Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) is a committee of the European Parliament. Responsibilities The main responsibilities of the committee are the interpretation and application of international and European law and the compliance of European U ...

, including as vice-chair. He resigned in 2008 after being returned to the Chamber. In 2012, he was elected

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

for

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 ...

. In Prime Minister

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 ...

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

, Corlățean served as

Justice Minister A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

(May–August 2012) and as

Foreign Minister 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 ...

(August 2012—November 2014). He resigned from the latter position following the first round of the 2014 presidential election, in which he was blamed for not setting up enough polling places for the

Romanian diaspora The Romanian diaspora is the Romanians, ethnically Romanian population outside Romania and Moldova. The concept does not usually include the ethnic Romanians who live as natives in nearby states, chiefly those Romanians who live in Ukraine, Hun ...

. In addition to his role in parliament, Corlățean has served as member of the Romanian delegation to 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 of ...

from 2009 until 2012 and since 2015. As member of the PSD, he is part of the Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group. In the Assembly, he has served on the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy; the Committee on the Election of Judges to the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

; the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights; the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by

Member States of the Council of Europe The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by ten western and northern European states, with Greece joining three months later, and Iceland, Turkey and West Germany joining the next year. It now has 46 member states, with Montenegro being th ...

(Monitoring Committee); the Sub-Committee on the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights; and the Sub-Committee on the Middle East and the Arab World. He has been the Assembly's co-rapporteur on

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

since 2018 (alongside

Kerstin Lundgren Kerstin Margareta Lundgren (born 14 January 1955) is a Sweden, Swedish Centre Party (Sweden), Centre Party politician. She has been a List of members of the Swedish Riksdag, 2006-2010, member of the Parliament of Sweden, Riksdag since 2002, ta ...

and later Claude Kern) and on the downing of

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) was a scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kuala Lumpur that was shot down by Russian-backed forces with a Buk missile system, Bu ...

since 2021. In 2019, he became the Assembly’s General Rapporteur on the abolition of the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

Recognition

In 2004, Corlățean was appointed Knight of the

Order of the Star of Romania The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: ''Ordinul Steaua României'') is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the Order of Michael the Brave. It is the oldest Order of Romania. It is awarded by the Preside ...

; in 2014, he was appointed Grand Cross of the Order ''pro merito Melitensi''.Profile
at the Foreign Affairs Ministry page; accessed May 2, 2016

Personal life

Corlățean is married and the father of one daughter.

Notes

References

Profile at the Chamber of Deputies site

External links

European Parliament profileEuropean Parliament official photoSite oficial – titus-corlatean.ro
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Corlatean, Titus 1968 births Living people Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) Members of the Senate of Romania Presidents of the Senate of Romania MEPs for Romania 2007 MEPs for Romania 2007–2009 People from Medgidia Romanian diplomats Ministers of foreign affairs of Romania Ministers of justice of Romania Romanian public relations people Social Democratic Party (Romania) MEPs Social Democratic Party (Romania) politicians University of Bucharest alumni Knights of the Order of the Star of Romania Recipients of the Order of Honour (Moldova)