Marcel Ciolacu facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Marcel Ciolacu
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Ciolacu in 2023
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| Prime Minister of Romania | |
| Assumed office 15 June 2023 |
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| President | Klaus Iohannis |
| Deputy | Marian Neacșu Cătălin Predoiu |
| Preceded by | Nicolae Ciucă |
| President of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 23 November 2021 – 15 June 2023 |
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| Preceded by | Sorin Grindeanu (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Alfred Simonis (acting) |
| In office 27 May 2019 – 19 December 2020 |
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| Preceded by | Liviu Dragnea |
| Succeeded by | Ludovic Orban |
| Leader of the Social Democratic Party | |
| Assumed office 26 November 2019 |
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| Preceded by | Viorica Dăncilă |
| Deputy Prime Minister of Romania | |
| In office 29 June 2017 – 29 January 2018 |
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| President | Klaus Iohannis |
| Prime Minister |
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| Preceded by | Augustin Jianu |
| Succeeded by | Viorel Ștefan |
| Member of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| Assumed office 19 December 2012 |
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| Constituency | Buzău County |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Ion-Marcel Ciolacu
28 November 1967 Buzău, Buzău County, Socialist Republic of Romania |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party (PSD) |
| Spouse | Roxana Ciolacu (div. 2023) |
| Children | 1 |
| Alma mater | Ecological University of Bucharest |
Ion-Marcel Ciolacu (born 28 November 1967) is a Romanian politician who currently serves as the Prime Minister of Romania. He is also the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD).
As a previously little known politician outside of Buzău County, where he owns a pastry shop and a consulting firm, Ciolacu came into national prominence when he became the deputy prime minister in 2018 in the cabinet of Prime Minister Mihai Tudose. Allegedly, he was given this office in order to report Tudose's activities to Liviu Dragnea, who had been unable to become prime minister himself and was wary of Tudose becoming a power player in the party. Ciolacu soon broke with Dragnea and became an ally of Tudose against Dragnea's leadership. After Tudose's resignation, Ciolacu was marginalized within PSD but still retained the leadership of PSD Buzău. Ciolacu once more returned to prominence in 2019 after Liviu Dragnea had been convicted on abuse of office and incitement to intellectual forgery charges, having to serve a 3 years, 6 months sentence. With the Social Democrats still controlling a majority both in the Chamber and in the Senate, Ciolacu won the position of the President of the Chamber of Deputies, with 172 votes for and 120 against, previously held by Dragnea himself.
Following new PSD leader Viorica Dăncilă overwhelming defeat in the 2019 Romanian presidential election, on 26 November 2019, Ciolacu was named leader of the party, firstly ad-interim, until he was confirmed to hold the position by the party congress the next year on 22 August 2020 with an overwhelming 1310–91 margin against his opponent. Ciolacu led the party to victory in the 2020 Romanian legislative election but was not able to form a majority coalition in the new legislative. Other parties opposed to the PSD formed a new coalition on 23 December and formed the new government, thus pushing Ciolacu's PSD in opposition. However, in 2021, following the political crisis that led to the collapse of the Cîțu Cabinet, he managed to bring the PSD back to the government, forming a cabinet with its former rival, the National Liberal Party, thus forming the National Coalition for Romania.
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Early life and education
Marcel Ciolacu was born in Buzău as the son of Ion Ciolacu, a career military pilot. In 1995 he obtained a law degree from the Ecological University of Bucharest, which was authorized in May 1995. In 2008 he attended a program in Security and National Defence at the National College of Defence in Bucharest, a controversial university, regarded by some Romanian publications as a "diploma-factory". In 2012 he completed a master's programme in the Management of the Public Sector at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration.
Political career
Early political activity
Marcel Ciolacu has participated in the 1989 Romanian Revolution in Buzău. He has become a member of the National Salvation Front in 1990. During the early nineties, Ciolacu climbed the steps in local politics and by 1996 he became the second-in-command of the Youth Organization of the party. Senator Ion Vasile became the godfather of his child. He remained little known, however, until the mid-2000s. In 2005 he was for several months the interim prefect of Buzau, after which he became, in turn, director of Urbis Serv and deputy mayor of Buzau (2008–2012), while Constantin Boșcodeală was mayor of Buzau (1996–2016). Boșcodeală was later convicted in 2015 for abuse of office during the period 2002–2008, by diverting public funds to a football team and other private companies of which he was a shareholder.
Ciolacu entered national politics in 2012 when he was first elected for a deputy seat in Parliament. In 2015 he was elected PSD president for Buzău County, replacing Boșcodeală who stepped down while being investigated. Ciolacu's election was controversial. He ran against Senator Vasile Ion, who eventually withdrew from the race, accusing Ciolacu of rigging the internal elections. Ciolacu was re-elected to Parliament in 2016.
As Deputy Prime Minister
In 2017, Ciolacu was named deputy prime minister in the cabinet led by Mihai Tudose. Tudose's predecessor, Sorin Grindeanu was ousted from his position by a vote of no-confidence initiated by PSD itself, then under leadership of Liviu Dragnea. Grindeanu's departure did not leave Dragnea's power unquestioned. Previously, the government had held a 295 majority, now it was reduced to a mere 241. For the first time, Dragnea was facing strong dissent in the party at the prospect that President Klaus Iohannis would not name another PSD member to become prime minister, electing instead to force early elections. Since the procedure of calling early elections laid down in the Constitution of Romania is complicated and difficult to trigger, and seeing PSD still had the necessary majority to form another government, the president decided to name Mihai Tudose, Dragnea's newest proposal as prime minister. Tudose was not, however, Dragnea's first choice and the PSD leader needed to find ways to control him better than Grindeanu, who had shown him that the office of prime minister was strong enough to allow its holder to wrestle his power in the party away from him. For this reason, Ciolacu was named deputy prime minister in the Tudose Cabinet, in order to become Dragnea's ears in the government.
Like Tudose himself and Grindeanu before him, however, Ciolacu did not stay loyal to Dragnea for long. By the autumn of 2017, Ciolacu had entered Tudose's grasp and was now fully loyal to the prime minister. The relationship between Tudose and Dragnea started deteriorating rapidly, as had been the case with Grindeanu, but the two maintained publicly that there was no strain between them. By then, Ciolacu was firmly in the Tudose camp.
Tudose soon declared publicly that there was only one person whom he would not tolerate being removed from his cabinet: Ciolacu. In January 2018, Tudose attempted to take full control of his government by asking the resignation of his Interior minister, Carmen Dan, a Dragnea mouthpiece and loyal lieutenant. As it became quite apparent that this was another power struggle between the prime minister and the leader of the PSD, Ciolacu publicly positioned himself in the Tudose camp. Dragnea once again convened a special party meeting in order to force Tudose's resignation. Seeing that a majority of the party remained loyal to Dragnea, Tudose decided to resign to evade a motion of no confidence like his predecessor. Ciolacu handed in his own resignation from the government shortly thereafter.
First election to the Chamber presidency
After leaving the Executive, Ciolacu returned to his deputy seat in Parliament. Throughout 2018 and the first half 2019 he stayed out of the spotlight while persisting in the opposition against Dragnea's leadership. In October 2018, the press reported an alleged physical altercation in Parliament between Ciolacu and Dragnea, but both denied the claim.
On 27 May 2019, Liviu Dragnea was convicted of abuse of power and sentenced to three years and six months in prison. This vacated his position as President of the Chamber of Deputies and his leadership position in the party. Ciolacu emerged once more in the public eye, seeking a path to top party leadership. The party's new leader, Viorica Dăncilă, the third prime minister named by Dragnea, was now looking for ways to cement her leadership of the party. For this, she sought the support of Ciolacu and other former opponents of Dragnea. Ciolacu accepted her offer to sponsor him as president of the Chamber of Deputies, succeeding Dragnea himself. On 29 May 2019, Ciolacu was voted the new head of the Chamber. However, his election was won only narrowly and with the support of the PSD-breakaway party, PRO Romania, and its member, former Prime Minister Mihai Tudose.
As leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD)
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As leader of the Lower Chamber, Ciolacu kept a reserved and non-vocal stance. In October 2019, a motion of no confidence was initiated by the PNL-led opposition that successfully removed Dăncilă from power, even though Ciolacu maintained that the Dăncilă Cabinet would not fall. He supported Viorica Dăncilă's bid to the presidency of Romania but after her defeat and her historically weak result, Ciolacu went on to take control of the party.
On 25 November 2019, one day after the presidential election, Marcel Ciolacu personally visited Dăncilă at her home, event at which has been speculated in the Press Marcel Ciolacu asked her to resign from the party's leadership, offering her an MP seat in the next legislative election but which has been denied by Ciolacu, Paul Stănescu and Dăncilă herself.On 26 November, after a six hour long meeting of the Executive Committee of PSD, Viorica Dăncilă resigns as Party Leader, with Marcel Ciolacu acting as Leader and Paul Stănescu as General Secretary following this.
Ciolacu was expected to run for a full term as leader of PSD at its Congress on 29 February 2020, but the Congress was postponed to 21 March due to the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic in Romania. In early March, they announced plans to move the Congress online in light of the epidemic-related ban of gatherings of more than 1000 people. Ultimately, the Congress took place on 22 August 2020 and resulted in Ciolacu's election as leader of PSD, defeating Eugen Teodorovici on an overwhelming 1310–91 margin.
Prime Minister of Romania (2023–present)
Marcel Ciolacu assumed the office of Prime Minister of Romania on 15 June 2023.
Political positions
A self-proclaimed supporter of economic patriotism, Ciolacu has been described as adhering to the ideology of left-wing nationalism and social conservatism. He opposes same-sex marriage, civil partnerships and social progressivism.
Personal life
Marcel Ciolacu was married to his wife, Roxana, a chemical engineer, since the 1990s; they have together one son, Filip. They divorced in August 2023. His partner since then has been Sorina Docuz, former Miss Buzău and former wife of politician Robert Negoiță. Since the beginning of the relationship between Ciolacu and Docuz, the latter's sister, Elena Arghir, became a member of the Council of Administration of the Romanian Lottery, at the request of the PSD.
See also
In Spanish: Marcel Ciolacu para niños
