Ion Iliescu President of Romania Ion Iliescu was born on March 3, 1930, in Oltenita, a little town in the South of the country, where he spend his childhood and attended, for two years, the primary school, which he continues in Bucharest. Here he graduated the secondary and high school, being a student at Industrial Polizu High School, Spiru Haret High School and Sfantul Sava High School.

His university degree and his professional expertise include fields such as hydro-energy, water resources administration and ecology. He graduated from the Electro-technical Faculty, of the Polytechnic Institute in Bucharest and from Moscow Institute for Energy.

In 1955 he began his professional activity as designer engineer at the Energy Engineering Institute in Bucharest. Between 1979 and 1984, when he leaded the National Council for Water Resources, he participated to the elaboration of far-reaching projects regarding the administration and utilization of the water resources of the country. Mr. Ion Iliescu sustained scientific points of view of the specialists in this field, rejecting the megalomaniac programs of the dictatorship. As a result, in 1984, he was fired.

Between 1984 and December 22, 1989, he was the director of the Technical Publishing House. He edited a series of main scientific works well known in the world, creating this way, in spite of the large number of obstacles, an opening in the informational isolation the Romanian scientists were condemned to live in. He is the author of a large number of studies, articles and essays published in specialized journals.

During all this period, Mr. Ion Iliescu was present in the public life as a supporter of the democratic spirit, of the opening toward European political, scientific and cultural values.

In 1948 was one of the founders of the Union of Students’ Associations of Romania.

In 1956 he found the Union of the College Students’ Associations of Romania, organized according to the model of students’ national unions in European countries, as professional organizations of the students. He participated in the international students’ movement in its different forums and bodies as a representative of the Romanian students. In the 80’s, Mr. Ion Iliescu was, during several years, president of very successful sports’ federation, the Kayak-Canoe Romanian Federation.

Ion Iliescu actively supported Romania’s new political trend in the 60’s, distinguishing himself through his firm positions regarding Romania’s independence and sovereignty in her relations with the Soviet Union, through the support of a real break of all the components of the Romanian economic, political and cultural life from the soviet and Stalin’s policy and a real opening toward the West. Between 1967 and 1971, when this trend awakened the hopes of the Romanians, he was Minister of the Youth. It is well known that, during the Extraordinary Session of the Romanian Parliament in 1968, he expressed his opposition regarding the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union troops and against Brejnev’s theory of a “limited sovereignty”. In 1971, during the six month when he was Secretary of the Communist Party’s Central Comity, he came into conflict with the “Cultural Revolution” policy promoted by Nicolae Ceausescu, being against the personality cult. Losing his position in the party hierarchy, he continued to have a critical position regarding the dogma of the “Cultural Revolution” even when he was vice-president of the Timis District Council, during 1974 and 1979 and president of the Iasi District Council. As a result he was accused of “intellectual deviation” and gradually excluded from the political life. The political police permanently kept him under strict surveillance. The Securitate tried to isolate, to exclude him from the public life, to control and narrow his possibility to communicate.

Due to his dignified position, Mr. Ion Iliscu became more and more known among large professional and social milieus in Romania and abroad. He is the politician they talked about with hope and confidence, even during the years of the Ceausescu dictatorship. He represented the main opponent of the totalitarian regime, an authentic militant for liberty, justice and democracy.

Beginning with the first hours of the Romanian Revolution, in the evening of December 22, 1989, he was designated as President of the new leading body of the Romanian State: the National Salvation Front Council. In the “Communiqué to the country”, to the elaboration of which he participated, was defined the nature of the social policy of the changes that would irreversibly mark Romania’s destiny: the demolition of the totalitarian communist system, of the monopoly of only one party; the setting up of democracy, political pluralism; the establishment of the state of right; the building up of the civic society; the observance the dignity and human rights, of the freedom of speech, of the freedom to associate and manifest oneself; the economic reform and the transition to market economy; the wide opening to the world.

On December 22, 1989 he held the office of President of the National Salvation Front Council.

Between February and May 1990, he leaded the Provisionally Council for National Unity that included representatives of all the political parties founded in January that year.

On May 1990, Ion Iliescu was elected President of Romania.

At the Presidential elections in October 11, 1992, the first elections held in accordance with the new Constitution, he obtained 7,297,551 votes, that is 61,5 percent from the total of the 11,910,609 votes, the large majority of the population supporting his program “ “I believe in Romania’s change for the better”. During his first constitutional mandate as chief of state, his priorities were: the national reconciliation, the social pact, the working together of all the political forces in order to obtain the stability and recovery of the country, the continuation of the economic reform, the social security and opening toward the world.

At the general and presidential elections in November 3, 1996, Mr. Ion Iliescu was elected Senator of PDSR.

The Extraordinary National Conference of the Social Democracy Party of Romania held in January 17, 1997, designated Mr. Ion Iliescu as President of the party, and he was reelected at the National Conference held in June 20 and 21, 1997.

As President of PDSR, he participated, together with the present Prime Minister, Adrian Nastase, to the effort of reconstruction and building up of a modern European social-democratic party.

Proposed and supported by PDSR in the presidential election campaign, Mr. Ion Iliescu was elected as chief of state for a new constitutional mandate on December 10, 2000.

On December 20, 2000, he took the Oath before the two chambers of the Parliament, and became President in office for the future four years.

President Ion Iliescu is married since 1951. His wife, Mrs. Elena Iliescu is engineer, scientific researcher in the field of the metal corrosion.

Essays and books

In 1992, Ion Iliescu published “Global Issues. Creativity” which gathers articles and studies regarding some of his old preoccupations linked with his profession, thoughts about the environment, the connection between the benefic effects of the application of the contemporary technical-scientific progress and the worrying rhythms of the exhaustion of some non-renewable resources with unforeseeable and irreversible effects for the future of the planet.

In 1993, he publishes “Revolution and Reform” (translated in French, English, German, Italian and Turkish). The main themes of the book are the particularities of the Romanian Revolution on the background of the changes that occurred and continue to occur in the Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the evaluation of the transition processes in Romania, from the point of view of their integration in the context of the changes that take place in the international life and in the European and world economy.

In 1994 the book “Romania in Europe and in the World” is published. The book gathers addresses, speeches and allocutions in the framework of international forums and bodies, papers and essays regarding positions and orientations of Romania’s foreign policy, in accordance with the new, irreversible course of Romanian political, economic and social life. The book was translated in English, French and Spanish.

In 1995 were published three books: ‘The Revolution as I Lived It: Conversations and Opinions Regarding The Events in December 1989 (two issues), “The Diplomatic Fall” –a series of interventions and presidential approaches in the framework of international meetings and “Moments of History” – first volume. The book contains addresses and documents regarding the Revolution in December and the difficulties Romania faced during the period of the political provisional state, the first free elections held in May 1990 and the post-electoral turmoil.

In 1996 appear “Moments of History” the second and third volumes (1991 and 1991-1992) and “Romanian-American Dialogues”.

In 1998, President Iliescu published “Political Life between Violence and Dialogue”, an analysis based on documents regarding the developments between 1991-1992.

In 1999, appears: “ Where to? - Romanian Society” which presents the issues of the Romanian society in transition and possible solutions from the social-democratic perspective. The book was translated in Italian.

In 2000 came out “Under the Cascade of Questions” which gathers some of Mr. President’s interviews.

He speaks fluently French, English and Russian.