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Vasile Blaga
EPP Congress 7615 (8100155267) (cropped).jpg
Blaga in 2012
Member of the European Parliament for Romania
Assumed office
2 July 2019
President of the Senate of Romania
In office
29 November 2011 – 3 July 2012
President Traian Băsescu
Preceded by Mircea Geoană
Succeeded by Crin Antonescu
Member of the Senate of Romania
In office
22 November 1996 – 10 December 2000
Constituency Bihor County
In office
13 December 2004 – 19 December 2016
Constituency Bucharest
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
18 June 1990 – 14 February 1992
Constituency Bihor County
Minister of Internal Affairs
In office
29 December 2004 – 4 April 2007
Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu
Preceded by Marian Săniuță
Succeeded by Cristian David
In office
1 October 2009 – 27 September 2010
Prime Minister Emil Boc
Preceded by Dan Nica
Succeeded by Traian Igaș
Minister of Regional Development and Public Administration
In office
22 December 2008 – 27 November 2009
Prime Minister Emil Boc
Preceded by Dan Motreanu
Succeeded by Elena Udrea
Prefect of Bihor County
In office
1991–1993
President of the National Liberal Party
In office
18 December 2014 – 28 September 2016
Serving with Alina Gorghiu
Preceded by Klaus Iohannis
Succeeded by Alina Gorghiu
Leader of the Democratic Liberal Party
In office
30 June 2012 – 17 November 2014
Preceded by Emil Boc
Succeeded by Klaus Iohannis (merged within the National Liberal Party)
Personal details
Born (1956-07-26) 26 July 1956 (age 67)
Petrileni, Bihor, Romania
Political party National Liberal Party
(2014–present)
Other political
affiliations
National Salvation Front (1990–1993)
Democratic Party (1993–2007)
Democratic Liberal Party (2007–2014)
Spouse Margareta Violett Blaga
Children 2
Alma mater Polytechnic University of Timișoara
Carol I National Defence University

Vasile Blaga (Romanian pronunciation: [vaˈsile ˈblaɡa]; born 26 July 1956) is a Romanian politician who was Speaker of the Upper Chamber of the Romanian Parliament, the Senate, from 2011 to 2012. He also served as Minister of Regional Development and Housing and twice as Minister of Administration and Internal Affairs.

A member of the Democratic Party (PD), he was the Minister of Administration and Interior in the first Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu government (December, 2004–March, 2007) as well as in one of the Emil Boc's governments. He resigned on 27 September 2010.

On 28 November 2011, Blaga was appointed President of the Senate of Romania after the revocation of Mircea Geoană on 23 November. On 30 June 2012, he became the leader of PDL in an extraordinary session following the huge loss suffered by the party in the local elections earlier that month. He was dismissed from the office of President of the Senate on 3 July 2012.

Political career

Traian Băsescu (9304365167)
Vasile Blaga and President Traian Băsescu in October 2012

Born in Petrileni, Bihor County, Blaga started his political career after the fall of Communism in Romania in 1989. He was a Member of Parliament in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies, representing Bihor County, between 1990 and 1991, after which he became the Prefect of Bihor, serving until 1993.

Following the legislative election of 1996, he became a member of the Romanian Senate from the Democratic Party, representing Bihor County. He was reelected at the 2004 election for the Justice and Truth Alliance (DA), of which the Democratic Party (PD) was a member, representing Bucharest (where he presently resides). Blaga was appointed as the Minister of Administration and Interior Affairs later in the same year.

In 2008, he was a candidate for the position of mayor of Bucharest from the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), seeking to replace incumbent mayor Adriean Videanu, who did not want to compete for a second term.

He came second in the first round of the elections, trailing independent Sorin Oprescu. For the second round, he gained the support of Gigi Becali's New Generation Party (PNG) and of the Social Democrat mayor Bucharest's Sector 2, Neculai Onțanu, as well as the opposition of National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD). Oprescu won the race on a 56-44 margin. He was the president of the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) until its dissolution in the summer of 2014, when it merged with the National Liberal Party (PNL), of which he served as co-president, along with Alina Gorghiu, until 28 September 2016. On that date, Blaga was charged with influence peddling by the National Anticorruption Directorate and announced his resignation as party co-leader, though he maintained he is innocent.

Electoral history

Mayor of Bucharest

Election Affiliation
Votes Percentage Position
2008 PDL 242,700
41.4%
 2nd 
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