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Miron Mitrea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Miron Tudor Mitrea (born August 8, 1956) is a Romanian engineer and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), he was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Vrancea County from 1996 to 2008, and sat in the Romanian Senate from 2008 to 2012, representing the same county. In 2012, he returned for a final term to the Chamber, also for Vrancea County. In the Adrian Năstase cabinet, he was Minister of Public Works and Transport from 2000 to 2004.

He has four sons and a daughter. His third and current wife, Manuela, a notary by profession, was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2000 to 2016.[1][2]

Biography

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He was born in Sighișoara to Ion and Viorica Mitrea and, after living in Făgăraș and Brașov, moved to Bucharest, where he completed secondary studies at the city's Dr. Petru Groza High School.[1][3] In 1988, after his father’s death, his mother fled to West Germany.[4] His maternal grandfather, Miron Neagu, was a member of the Romanian National Party;[5] his maternal grandmother, Gabriela Waldhofer, was Austrian. His father was from Leordeni, Argeș County. Following army service in Medgidia, he studied transportation at the Politehnica University of Bucharest, specialising in road vehicles and graduating in 1981.[1] From 1982 to 1983 he worked at a heavy machine factory in Constanța, and then until 1989 he held a similar position in Bucharest, where he was a director at a factory.[6]

Following the 1989 Revolution, Mitrea became president of the trade union Frăția, and after Frăția merged with another union in 1993, he continued until 1995 as head of the National Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Romania – Brotherhood.[6] He headed the short-lived Party of Social Solidarity from 1993 to 1994.[1] Subsequently joining the PDSR (PSD from 2001), he was elected to the Chamber on its lists in 1996. In 2000, after the PDSR came to power, Mitrea became Minister of Transport, serving until 2004, when the party lost elections.[6] As minister, his achievements included modernising several rail stations, continuing work on the A2 motorway, rebuilding the northern jetty of the Port of Constanța, and completing Bucharest apartment blocks that had been left unfinished since 1989.[7] In April 2008, the National Anticorruption Directorate charged him with receiving bribes, instigating forgery in official documents, and using forgery as minister,[8] and Mitrea resigned his Chamber seat that September after his colleagues (despite his request to the contrary) stopped the indictment (and a similar one for Năstase) from moving forward on grounds of parliamentary immunity; he wished to fight the charges and clear his name.[9] After serving as the coordinator of the PSD's successful 2008 election campaign, Mitrea won a seat in the Senate.[10] At the 2012 election, he returned to the Chamber as one of its vice presidents and a member of its European affairs committee.[11] In October 2014, Mitrea received a two-year prison sentence in a corruption case involving construction at his mother's house; in response, he vowed to appeal.[12] His sentence was upheld the following February, when he was incarcerated at Poarta Albă,[13] at which point he resigned from the Chamber.[11] He was freed in May 2016.[14]

Within his party, Mitrea has served as Vice President (1995-1996 and 2001-2005), Secretary General (1996-1997 and 2005-2006) and member of the General Executive Bureau (1997-2000). From 1996 to 2000, he was a vice president, quaestor, and secretary of the Chamber of Deputies, also serving as a vice president from 2004 to 2008.[1] From 1991 to 1992, he served on the executive bureau of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.[6] In 2002, President Ion Iliescu awarded him the Order of the Star of Romania, knight class; this was withdrawn in 2019, as a result of his conviction.[15] Ideologically, Mitrea is an avowed leftist but also an anti-communist, and he has worked to distance the PSD from its image as a successor to the Romanian Communist Party.[16]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e (in Romanian) Who I Am Archived 2008-09-07 at archive.today, retrieved February 27, 2009
  2. ^ (in Romanian) 2012-2016 Profile of Manuela Mitrea at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site; retrieved May 20, 2024
  3. ^ Sălăvăstru, Alexandru (January 28, 2024). "Protestele și politica. Cazul Miron Mitrea, sindicalistul ajuns ministru al Transporturilor și lider PSD". Evenimentul Zilei (in Romanian). Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  4. ^ (in Romanian) Ionel Stoica, "Miron Mitrea, la proces: Am fost un prost când l-am ales pe Sergiu Sechelariu să construiască locuinţa mamei mele" ("Miron Mitrea, at Trial: I Was a Fool to Choose Sergiu Sechelariu to Build My Mother’s House"), Evenimentul Zilei, 5 May 2014, retrieved May 17, 2024
  5. ^ (in Romanian) Ilarion Țiu, "Miron Mitrea, președintele primelor sindicate libere" ("Miron Mitrea, President of the First Free Unions"), Jurnalul Național, 26 February 2010, retrieved May 17, 2024
  6. ^ a b c d (in Romanian) Profile at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site; retrieved February 27, 2009
  7. ^ (in Romanian) "What I Have Done" Archived 2012-07-10 at archive.today, retrieved February 27, 2009
  8. ^ (in Romanian) "DNA cere Camerei Deputaţilor aviz pentru urmărirea penală a lui Miron Mitrea" ("DNA Asks the Chamber of Deputies for Authorisation to Pursue Charges Against Miron Mitrea"), Mediafax, April 21, 2008, retrieved February 27, 2009
  9. ^ (in Romanian) "Miron Mitrea a demisionat din funcția de parlamentar" ("Miron Mitrea Has Resigned from the Office of Parliamentarian") Archived 2011-05-23 at the Wayback Machine, Realitatea, 4 September 2008, retrieved February 27, 2009
  10. ^ (in Romanian) "Bunurile lui Miron Mitrea puse sub sechestru de DNA" ("Miron Mitrea's Possessions Sequestered by the DNA"), Mediafax, December 10, 2008, retrieved February 27, 2009
  11. ^ a b (in Romanian) 2012-2016 Profile at the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site; retrieved July 23, 2013
  12. ^ (in Romanian) Diana Biță, "Miron Mitrea, condamnat de ÎCCJ la doi ani de închisoare cu executare" ("Miron Mitrea, Sentenced by High Court to Two Years in Prison"), România liberă, 15 October 2014, retrieved October 15, 2014
  13. ^ (in Romanian) Cătălin Lupășteanu, "Miron Mitrea, condamnat definitiv la 2 ani de închisoare cu executare" ("Miron Mitrea, Given Two-Year Prison Term"), Mediafax, 13 February 2014, retrieved February 14, 2015
  14. ^ (in Romanian) "Miron Mitrea a fost eliberat" ("Miron Mitrea Freed"), Digi24, 20 May 2016, retrieved April 29, 2020
  15. ^ (in Romanian) "Decorațiile retrase trebuie înapoiate" ("Withdrawn Decorations Must Be Returned"), Radio Europa Liberă România, 11 December 2019, retrieved April 29, 2020
  16. ^ (in Romanian) "What I Wish to Do" Archived 2012-07-11 at archive.today, retrieved February 27, 2009
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