Traian Băsescu
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Categories: 1951 births | Current national leaders | Eastern Orthodox Christians | Living people | Mayors of Bucharest | Presidents of Romania
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| Office: | President of Romania |
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| Term of Office: |
December 21, 2004 – present |
| Predecessor: | Ion Iliescu |
| Successor: | incumbent |
| Date of Birth: | Sunday, November 4, 1951 |
| Place of Birth: | Basarabi, Constanţa |
| Marriage: | Maria Băsescu |
| Profession: | Merchant navy officer |
| Political Party: | Democrat |
| Religion: | Romanian Orthodox |
Traian Băsescu (born November 4 1951) is a Romanian politician. He is the current President of Romania, inaugurated on December 20 2004. He won the office in the 2004 presidential election.
Prior to becoming President, he was the Mayor of Bucharest from June 2000 until December 2004.
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Family background
Băsescu was born in Basarabi, a village, later a small town near Constanţa, the largest port on the Black Sea. His father's family originated from Băseşti, a village in Maramureş. One of his former teachers in high-school remembered him claiming to be a member of the same family as Gheorghe Pop de Băseşti (1835–1919), a Romanian politician who fought for the unification of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania and was the president of the Alba-Iulia assembly of 1918, where the union was proclaimed.
Career
Commercial ship captain
Băsescu graduated from the Navy Institute of Constanţa in 1976 and became a Merchant Marine Officer at Navrom, the Romanian state-owned shipping company. Between 1981 and 1987 he worked as Captain on Romanian commercial ships, and in 1984 he was promoted as Captain for oil tanker Biruinţa, the largest ship of the Romanian fleet. In 1989, he moved to Belgium to head the Navrom Agency in Antwerp.
Political Career
In order to promote his navy career, Băsescu joined the Communist Party (PCR). After the downfall of Communism, he entered politics as a member of the large National Salvation Front (FSN) party. In 1992, after the FSN split in two factions—the Social Democratic Party of Romania (PDSR, later PSD), led by Ion Iliescu, and the Democratic Party (PD), led by Petre Roman, Băsescu joined the PD faction, and in 1992, he was elected to the lower house of the Romanian Parliament — the Chamber of Deputies and was again elected during the 1996-to-2000 term.
Concurrent with his service in Parliament, Băsescu served several times as Minister of Transportation — from 1991 to 1992 in Petre Roman's Cabinet and in Theodor Stolojan's technocratic Cabinet, and then again from November 1996 to June 2000 in the governments of Victor Ciorbea, Radu Vasile, and Mugur Isărescu.
In December 1997, he gave an interview to the newspaper Adevarul in which he accused Victor Ciorbea (prime minister at that time) of not implementing enough reforms, although Ciorbea was accused by the opposition of being excessively reformist. It is believed that his interview led to Ciorbea's resignation.
In 2001, he was elected president of the PD, defeating Petre Roman, who had led the party for nine years. In 2003, Băsescu negotiated an electoral alliance for the PD with the National Liberal Party (PNL) in order to create a cohesive mainstream center-right political opposition against the then-ruling PSD. The new pact, named the Justice and Truth alliance (Alianţa DA), ran common candidates in local and national elections and agreed to vote as a bloc in the Parliament. As president of PD, he became co-president of the DA alliance with then PNL president Theodor Stolojan. Stolojan was later replaced as PNL president and DA co-president by Calin Popescu Tariceanu.
Mayor of Bucharest
In 2000, Băsescu was elected Mayor of Bucharest, winning the run-off against PDSR candidate Sorin Oprescu by a very slim margin (50.69% to 49.31%), despite trailing 24% behind him in the first round. He obtained a second term in office in the 2004-Bucharest elections, winning 54.9% of the votes in the first round; the runner-up Mircea Geoană (at that time the Foreign Minister of Romania, later to be elected President of PSD, the successor party to the PDSR) received only 29.7%. His performance as Bucharest mayor was considered by many to be the best since the Bucharest earthquake in 1977. He is credited for the reduction (albeit using very drastic measures such as large scale euthanasia) in numbers of stray dogs (euphemistically known as câini comunitari, "community" dogs) roaming freely among the streets of the city from approximately 200,000–300,000 in 2000 to 25,000 in 2004, and thus in the number of dog bite injuries from 1500/day to under 200/day; (source : The Administration for Animal Control (ASA) of the Mayor's Office of Bucharest, 2003) for improvements to the water and lighting systems (which were in a very bad state) (source: Bucharest's Mayor's Office [1]; and for the modernisation of public transportation in the city. He was criticized for not repairing the road system in the city, but he and his supporters blamed the problem on alleged obstructionism and corruption of the former PSD-led national government and the then PSD-controlled city and sector councils and prefecture.
Image:Basescu with bush.jpg Traian Băsescu with George W. Bush. |
President of Romania
Following Theodor Stolojan's surprise withdrawal from the 2004 presidential elections, Băsescu entered the presidential race on behalf of the Justice and Truth Alliance (Alianţa DA). His main opponent was then Prime Minister and PSD president Adrian Năstase. Like Băsescu, Nāstase was a former Communist Party member. Although Năstase was ahead in the first round by 7%, Băsescu achieved a surprise comeback and won the December 12 run-off election by a 2.46% margin, receiving 51.23% of the vote.
Currently Băsescu is very popular, due to his open style, hands on approach, and quick decision-making. In his electoral campaign, Băsescu promised to be a "player President" (in Romanian, "preşedinte jucător"), in contrast to a more withdrawn Romanian president who would be just a mediator among political forces. After he became president, as legally required, he resigned from the Democratic Party. However, he remained very involved in day-to-day politics, often being accused by the opposition of partisanship and overstepping constitutional boundaries on the role of the President. According to media reports, relations between Băsescu and Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu declined after the latter decided in July 2005 to reconsider his planned resignation in order to provoke early elections, which Băsescu sought in order to increase the parliamentary majority of the DA Alliance.
As President, Băsescu focused on a strong strategic partnership with the United States, a relationship which during the 2004 presidential campaign he characterized as the "Bucharest-London-Washington axis." In real terms, this meant a continued Romanian commitment to maintain Romanian troops in Afghanistan and Iraq; and an agreement signed in December 2005 between Romania and the U.S. to allow U.S. troops to use Romanian military facitilies. Băsescu was vocal in calling for a regional approach to security in the Black Sea basin, which he noted remained susceptible to transborder security threats such as drugs- and human trafficking. Băsescu and the government of Prime Minister Popescu-Tariceanu also focused on Romania's planned accession to the EU, which remained a central component in Romania's foreign policy.
In domestic politics, Băsescu concentrated on the fight against high-level corruption, although critics pointed out that there were no prosecutions in major corruption cases in Romania during his first year in office. In spring 2005, he successfully resolved a hostage crisis in Iraq involving three Romanian journalists and their guide, who were held by terrorists. In 2005, he also focused on pressing the government to provide relief to thousands of Romanians left homeless by widespread flooding throughout the spring and summer.
Controversies
Over the years, Băsescu was repeatedly accused of involvement in the Communist regime's infamous Securitate, although no concrete evidence ever surfaced. These allegations were reiterated publicly by former President Emil Constantinescu in late 2005. Nontheless, Băsescu repeatedly cast himself as an anti-communist, despite any affiliations in his past. In the live TV debate with Adrian Năstase before the 2004 run-off presidential election, Băsescu caught his opponent off-guard with a rhetorical remark:
| You know what Romania's greatest curse is right now? It's that Romanians have to choose between two former Communist Party members. |
During his tenure as Minister of Transportation, Băsescu oversaw privatization of Romania's merchant fleet. While some argued that the aging ships at the time were of minimal value, many Romanians believed the compensation received for the ships was extremely, if not artificially, low. The "scandal" of the fleet sale became what is widely known in Romania as The Fleet File (Dosarul Flota) Affair. Prosecutors brought charges against Băsescu, but his involvement in malfeasance was not proven. In 1996, Băsescu was the first Romanian parliamentarian to renounce his parliamentary immunity, in order to allow judicial procedures related to the Fleet File Affair to continue against him (Romanian MP's were, by default, granted immunity from prosecution). Although the case against him was closed at the time for lack of evidence, it was reopened in early 2004, in what many consider was political maneuver against him sponsored by the then PSD government. Prosecutors did not pursue the case further in 2005, after Băsescu was in office as President. The Constitution states that the President has immunity, however, due to conflicting interpretations of phrasing of the Constitution, the High Court of Cassation and Justice may at some point have to decide whether Băsescu's immunity as President covers only actions during his term as president or extends to prior activities.
Băsescu bought a 369 m² apartment in down-town Bucharest for the equivalent of US$19,301, while its current market value is around 300,000 euros. Băsescu the mayor approved the sale of the apartment to Băsescu the citizen claiming that in 1999 he was evacuated from a nationalized house administered by the Executive Administrative Division in Charge with Protocol, which he was occupying as minister in the then center-right Government, and had no home. The Protocol Division moved Băsescu from Aviatorilor Boulevard into another home on Prezan Street that it also administered. But Băsescu already had a house: a villa in Bǎneasa on the northern outskirts of Bucharest. The Law 122/1995 specifically prevented the sale from occurring, with the provisions of Art. 9, which states that tenants may buy the houses they live in provided they did not own a house or sold one after 1 January 1990. When the scandal broke at the beginning of the year Băsescu stated that he would give up that apartment, since he would have the right anyway to a home paid from public funds, as a former president. Later on he changed his mind. The prosecutors investigating the matter concluded that Băsescu did not breach the law when he bought the apartment according to the provisions of Law 10/2001.
- Oana Stancu, Strada Mihaileanu - Băsescu vede legal ce e ilegal ("Mihǎileanu Street - Băsescu sees as legal what is illegal"), Jurnalul Naţional, 25 November 2005
- Andrei Tudor, Dosarul «Casa din Mihǎileanu»: Băsescu a bǎtut şaua Morar şi a priceput iapa Botos ("'House on Mihǎileanu' file: Băsescu has beaten the Morar saddle so that the [Ilie] Botos mare may understand" (reference to a traditional Romanian saying)), Gardianul, 15 December 2005
- Ramona Lică, NUP pentru Băsescu în dosarul „Casa din Mihăileanu“ ("NUP (Neînceperea Urmǎririi Penale) for Băsescu in 'House on Mihǎileanu' file", Gândul, 11 January, 2006
- Maria Manoliu, Băsescu nu mai dǎ inapoi casa de pe Mihǎileanu ("Băsescu no longer giving back the House on Mihǎileanu", Adevarul, 18 February 2005, accessed on HotNews.ro. 24 March 2006.
External links
- Basescu.ro: Official candidacy site (only in Romanian)
- Official web site of the President of Romania
- Traian Băsescu's short biography on the Romanian Presidency web site
- Traian Băsescu's Curriculum Vitae (only in Romanian)
- BBC Profile: Traian Băsescu
| Preceded by: Ion Iliescu | President of Romania December 20, 2004–present | Incumbent |
| edit | Presidents of Romania | 
| |
| Romanian People's Republic (1947 - 1965) | Constantin Parhon | Petru Groza | Ion Gheorghe Maurer | Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej | ||
| Socialist Republic Romania (1965 - 1989) | Nicolae Ceauşescu | ||
| Romania (since 1989) | Ion Iliescu | Emil Constantinescu | Ion Iliescu | Traian Băsescu | ||
