Ana Birchall facts for kids
Ana Birchall (born August 30, 1973) is a Romanian lawyer and politician. Since 2012, she has been a member of the Romanian Parliament for Vaslui County. She represents the Social Democratic Party.
Ana Birchall has held important roles in the government. She was a special representative for European affairs and for Romania's partnership with the United States. She also served as the Minister of Justice. Later, she was a Deputy Prime Minister, focusing on Romania's important partnerships with other countries.
On November 12, 2019, Ana Birchall was no longer part of the Social Democratic Party and left her role as Minister of Justice.
About Ana Birchall
Ana Birchall was born on August 30, 1973, in Mizil, Romania. She grew up in a town called Fulga in Prahova County.
Her Education
Ana Birchall studied law and earned her first degree in this field. She then went to Yale Law School in the United States. There, she earned a special master's degree. She focused on bankruptcy law and international financial law. She did very well at Yale, graduating with high honors.
She continued her studies at Yale Law School to get her advanced law degree (called a Juris Doctor). Her research looked at bankruptcy laws in many countries. These included the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Romania, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
Her Career
After finishing her studies, Ana Birchall worked as a lawyer in New York. She worked for a big law firm called White & Case on Wall Street. She helped large companies like ENRON, MCI-Worldcom, United Airlines, US Airways, and UPC.
In 2003, Ana Birchall decided to return to Romania. She wanted to work in politics. She started her political journey within the Social Democratic Party. She advised the Minister of External Affairs. She also led different departments within the party. These included equal opportunities, education, and research. She was also a spokesperson for the party in Bucharest.
She continued her legal work as well. She became a member of the Bucharest Bar, which is a group for lawyers. She also kept working with White & Case LLP.
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In 1998, Ana Birchall married Martyn Birchall, a businessman from Britain. They had a son named Andrew in 2001. They live in Bucharest, the capital of Romania.
Her Government Roles
In January 2017, Ana Birchall became the Minister for Europe. In this role, she helped Romania prepare to lead the EU Council in 2019. After public protests in early 2017, she became the temporary Minister of Justice. She worked to improve public trust in the justice system. Her actions helped fight corruption. This led to her leaving the government in June 2017.
In January 2018, she was appointed Deputy Prime Minister. Her job was to strengthen Romania's important partnerships with other countries. She did a good job improving relations with several nations. From April 2019, she again became the temporary Minister of Justice. This was during a time when people were worried about justice reform and fighting corruption. In May 2019, she officially became the Minister of Justice. She continued to push for justice reform, even when many groups tried to stop her.
In 2020, she helped create new laws in parliament. These laws made it easier to get back money and property gained from crimes.
As of December 2023, she works for Nuclearelectrica. This is Romania's nuclear power energy company. She is a special envoy for strategic and international affairs.
False Accusations
Ana Birchall has faced false accusations during her political career.
In May 2008, a legal request was made in her name without her knowing. She found out from the news and asked for the request to be canceled. She proved that the request was not hers and that the signature was fake. She believed political opponents were trying to harm her reputation. This happened before important elections, as her name was being considered for a government position.
In September 2008, during an election campaign, she faced another false story. A video was shared online that claimed to show her. Ana Birchall strongly denied these claims. An expert later confirmed that the person in the video was not her. A magazine that had reported the story later apologized to her and her family.
Ana Birchall took legal action against those who spread these false stories. She said it was an effort to damage her political career. The court ruled in her favor, confirming that the accusations were untrue.
