Liviu Dragnea

Origins and local government career

Dragnea was born in Gratia, Teleorman County, and after completing secondary studies at Unirea Mathematics-Physics High School in Turnu Măgurele in 1981, enrolled at the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest. He graduated from the Transport faculty in 1987. He also studied at the Public Administration School of the Italian Ministry of the Interior (1997), the Faculty of Management and Public Administration at the Ecological University of Bucharest (2003) and the Carol I National Defence University (2004). Dragnea's political career began in 1996, when he was elected a city councilor in Turnu Măgurele. From 1996 to 2000, while Dragnea was a member of the PD, he served as prefect of Teleorman County; he then switched to the PSD, which won the 2000 election. In 2000, he became president of the Teleorman County Council, being re-elected in 2004, 2008 and 2012. He is a member of the PSD's permanent national bureau and of the party's Teleorman County chapter. In 2006, he was elected party vice president for state reform and decentralisation (suspending himself from the position after the failure of that year's presidential impeachment referendum), and he led the PSD's campaign at the 2007 European Parliament election. Following the 2008 parliamentary election, for which he helped run the campaign, he was named coordinator of PSD ministers in the Boc cabinet, charged with maintaining links between ministers and the party leadership.

Beginning in the 2000s, Dragnea was characterised as a "local baron" with a powerful influence within the PSD. For instance, in 2006, he was one of the individuals who forced Adrian Năstase to resign as party head and Chamber of Deputies president. Moreover, his wealth and business dealings have drawn attention: as of late 2008, he had eight landholdings (including in Azuga and Năvodari), an apartment, two residences and a vacation house, a hotel, an inn, and two commercial venues in Turnu Măgurele. Fear of losing control over this Teleorman County "empire" was cited as yet another possible motive for his resignation. He was accused by the National Anticorruption Directorate of falsifying documents while attempting to access European Union funds for building a new border checkpoint with Bulgaria, but charges were later dropped without much explanation. Controversy arose too during his first term as county council president. In 2001, the council privatised a state construction firm at a very low price. Dragnea's personal driver won it at auction, and Dragnea awarded the firm many public contracts for road construction, some of these being considered overvalued. In 2004, he was accused by high-ranking PD members of having bought a hotel for 800 million lei (some $27,000) and reselling it for 40 billion lei (around $1.3 million) to his driver's firm, before regaining the property. Also that year, he was blamed for wasting public money by having the council sponsor a basketball club.

As cabinet minister

In January 2009, following the resignation of Gabriel Oprea, Dragnea was named Interior Minister. He announced his priorities as being the safety of children in school, the safety of citizens on the street, decentralisation and administrative reform. Twelve days later, he resigned, citing a lack of resources and funds to implement his plans. There was speculation that he was forced out by party president Mircea Geoană and Sector 5 Mayor Marian Vanghelie for refusing to name an individual suggested by the latter as a secretary of state at the ministry. Also, his brief tenure was rocked by an armed robbery in Braşov and an arms theft from a depot in Ciorogârla. He remained county council president at the time and continued to be a vehement critic of the PSD—PD-L alliance (which he opposed from the start), referring to Transport Minister Radu Berceanu as a "nitwit" and to Prime Minister Boc as a "whippersnapper". He became secretary general of the PSD in July 2009.

At the December 2012 parliamentary election, Dragnea won a seat for Teleorman County with 71.5% of the vote. Later that month, he resigned his position in the county council, and was named Regional Development Minister as well as one of three deputy premiers to Prime Minister Victor Ponta. Simultaneously, he left the county council leadership. In early 2013, he left the party secretary general position, soon becoming executive president. Following a cabinet reshuffle in December 2014, he lost the deputy premiership but retained the Regional Development portfolio. In May 2015, he was convicted of orchestrating electoral fraud during the 2012 presidential impeachment referendum and given a one-year suspended sentence. As a result, he resigned as Regional Development Minister.

Social Democratic leadership and Chamber presidency

That July, following Ponta's resignation as PSD president, Dragnea ran to replace him on an interim basis, and defeated Rovana Plumb on a 65-18 margin. In October, he was the sole candidate to run for party leader in a ballot open to all party members; 97% voted in his favor. In April 2016, the High Court of Cassation and Justice pronounced a final verdict in the electoral fraud case, doubling Dragnea's initial sentence to two years.

In the December 2016 parliamentary election, Dragnea retained his own seat in the Chamber while leading the PSD to victory. He was subsequently elected Chamber President. The same month, he and his former wife were indicted for abuse of public office and forgery allegedly committed during his time as Teleorman County Council president.

Personal life

Dragnea and his wife Bombonica had two children prior to their divorce in 2015. Dragnea is a member of the Romanian Orthodox Church.