Dan Nica
Encyclopedia
Dan Nica is a Romania
n engineer and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party
(PSD), he has been a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies
for Galaţi County
since 1996. In the Adrian Năstase
cabinet, he was Minister of Communications and Information Technology from 2000 to July 2004, and in the Emil Boc
cabinet, he was the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Administration and Interior between February and October 2009.
He is married and has one child.
, Vrancea County
and in 1985 graduated from the Electronics and Telecommunications Faculty of the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iaşi
. He also holds a 2005 doctorate in Communication Sciences, has co-designed three patented inventions, and authored the 2001 book Guvern, cetăţean, societatea informaţională ("Government, Citizen, IT Society"). From 1985 to 1996, he worked at the Galaţi County Telecommunications Directorate, and was its director from 1991 onward. In this capacity he coordinated a telephone-extension project, which resulted in the county becoming one of the first in Romania in which over 90% of households had a telephone. Concurrently, from 1993 to 1996, he was an associate professor at the University of Galaţi
, teaching Telecommunications and Data Transmission.
In 1996, Nica was elected
to the Chamber for the PDSR (PSD from 2001); he sat on the industry and services committee. From 1997 to 2003, he headed the Galaţi
municipal party organisation, while from 1999 to 2003, he was first vice president of the PSD Galaţi County chapter, and from 1999 to 2004, he sat on the party's central executive bureau. He was re-elected
in 2000, and was also part of the Năstase cabinet until July 2004, when he was dismissed during a reshuffle. During this period he belonged to the Chamber's public administration, land management and ecological equilibrium committee and introduced a law for supporting and promoting small and medium-sized businesses. Also, from 2002 to 2004, he was a member of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force. He was elected again
in 2004, following which he became vice president of the information technology and communications committee. During the 2004 campaign, the Coalition for a Clean Parliament, an NGO
, accused him of lacking the moral integrity needed to sit in Parliament, claiming he had taken decisions as minister that benefited certain private companies at the expense of the state and of market competition. Cited were an order regulating taxes on mobile telephone carriers that allegedly saved one company around €
10 million a year, and the charge that Nica dropped a clause in the Romtelecom
privatisation contract in 2003. He sued for 1.5 billion lei
(some $
50,000) in damages, but lost.
A month after the 2008 election
, in which Nica won yet another term in the Chamber, he was named vice premier in the Boc cabinet. In January 2009, following the resignation of Gabriel Oprea
and before Liviu Dragnea
took office, Nica was interim Interior Minister; when Dragnea resigned the following month, Nica again took over the ministry, a scenario that was one of several options discussed within the PSD. As vice premier, Nica had to play a balancing act when tensions appeared within the ruling PSD—PD-L
coalition, both urging that PSD (and PD-L) ministers show "restraint" in their public statements about the other party, and criticising the PD-L at times himself, for instance accusing Regional Development Minister Vasile Blaga
of "arrogance" in his attitude toward PSD ministers. As Interior Minister, he took note of alleged fraud
during the 2009 European Parliament election
, promising that those who voted more than once would be arrested, and announcing soon after the polls closed that 35 penal dossiers had already been opened for offences that included attempted fraud and giving money and food to influence voters. In late September 2009, Nica alleged that all available buses had been rented for the first and second rounds of the upcoming presidential election
, and that these would be used to transport voters to multiple polling stations so they could cast more than one ballot. Citing these comments and a deteriorating public safety situation that included a general rise in crime and a spate of armed robberies, Boc moved to dismiss Nica. On October 1, President
Traian Băsescu
approved Nica's dismissal, prompting all eight of his PSD cabinet colleagues to resign in protest that day. He was elected one of the PSD's vice presidents in 2010.
Along with holding several prizes for his government and technical work, Nica has been a Knight of the Order of the Star of Romania
since 2002.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n engineer and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (Romania)
The Social Democratic Party is the major social-democratic political party in Romania. It was formed in 1992, after the post-communist National Salvation Front broke apart. It adopted its present name after a merger with a minor social-democratic party in 2001. Since its formation, it has always...
(PSD), he has been a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Romania
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...
for Galaţi County
Galati County
Galaţi is a county of Romania, in Moldavia region, with the capital city at Galaţi.-History:Historically Galaţi is part of Moldavia...
since 1996. In the Adrian Năstase
Adrian Nastase
Adrian Năstase is a Romanian politician who was the Prime Minister of Romania from December 2000 to December 2004.He competed as the Social Democratic Party candidate in the 2004 presidential election, but was defeated by centre-right Justice and Truth Alliance candidate Traian Băsescu.He was...
cabinet, he was Minister of Communications and Information Technology from 2000 to July 2004, and in the Emil Boc
Emil Boc
Emil Boc is the Prime Minister of Romania, having served since December 2008. In June 2004, he was elected Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, the largest city in Transylvania. Boc is also the president of the Democratic Liberal Party, who designated him as Prime Minister in 2008. On October 13, 2009, his...
cabinet, he was the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Administration and Interior between February and October 2009.
He is married and has one child.
Biography
He was born in PanciuPanciu
The town of Panciu in the county of Vrancea in Romania lies on the river Şuşiţa, in southern Moldavia, northwest of Focşani. It has a population of approximately 9,000. It administers five villages: Crucea de Jos, Crucea de Sus, Dumbrava, Neicu and Satu Nou....
, Vrancea County
Vrancea County
Vrancea is a county in Romania, with its seat at Focşani. It is mostly in the historical region of Moldavia but the southern part, below the Milcov River, is in Muntenia.-Demographics:...
and in 1985 graduated from the Electronics and Telecommunications Faculty of the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iaşi
Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi
The Gheorghe Asachi Technical University is a public university located in Iaşi, Romania. It has the oldest tradition in Romania in engineering education and is second ranked among the technical institutions of higher education, and the fifth among all universities in Romania, in the national...
. He also holds a 2005 doctorate in Communication Sciences, has co-designed three patented inventions, and authored the 2001 book Guvern, cetăţean, societatea informaţională ("Government, Citizen, IT Society"). From 1985 to 1996, he worked at the Galaţi County Telecommunications Directorate, and was its director from 1991 onward. In this capacity he coordinated a telephone-extension project, which resulted in the county becoming one of the first in Romania in which over 90% of households had a telephone. Concurrently, from 1993 to 1996, he was an associate professor at the University of Galaţi
University of Galati
The Lower Danube University is a public university located in Galaţi, Romania. It was founded in 1974.-History:...
, teaching Telecommunications and Data Transmission.
In 1996, Nica was elected
Romanian legislative election, 1996
Legislative elections were held in Romania on 3 November 1996, together with the Presidential election. The elections were won by the Romanian Democratic Convention, an alliance of liberal, Christian Democratic and green parties. This marked the first time that the Party of Social Democracy was out...
to the Chamber for the PDSR (PSD from 2001); he sat on the industry and services committee. From 1997 to 2003, he headed the Galaţi
Galati
Galați is a city and municipality in Romania, the capital of Galați County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, in the close vicinity of Brăila, Galați is the largest port and sea port on the Danube River and the second largest Romanian port....
municipal party organisation, while from 1999 to 2003, he was first vice president of the PSD Galaţi County chapter, and from 1999 to 2004, he sat on the party's central executive bureau. He was re-elected
Romanian legislative election, 2000
Legislative elections where be held in Romania on November 26, 2000, together with the Presidential election. The Greater Romania Party made big gains, as did the PDSR, which became the ruling party. The formerly governing Romanian Democratic Convention lost all its seats and was shortly...
in 2000, and was also part of the Năstase cabinet until July 2004, when he was dismissed during a reshuffle. During this period he belonged to the Chamber's public administration, land management and ecological equilibrium committee and introduced a law for supporting and promoting small and medium-sized businesses. Also, from 2002 to 2004, he was a member of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force. He was elected again
Romanian legislative election, 2004
The Romanian legislative election of 2004 was held on 28 November 2004. 137 seats in the Senate of Romania and 314 seats in the Chamber of Deputies were up for election.The 2004 legislative election was held simultaneously with the presidential election...
in 2004, following which he became vice president of the information technology and communications committee. During the 2004 campaign, the Coalition for a Clean Parliament, an NGO
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
, accused him of lacking the moral integrity needed to sit in Parliament, claiming he had taken decisions as minister that benefited certain private companies at the expense of the state and of market competition. Cited were an order regulating taxes on mobile telephone carriers that allegedly saved one company around €
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
10 million a year, and the charge that Nica dropped a clause in the Romtelecom
Romtelecom
Romtelecom is the largest telecommunications company in Romania; the majority of shares are held by the Greek telecommunications company OTE . The Romanian state also has a minority stake of 45.99% in the company. The company had a monopoly for the provision of fixed telephony services until...
privatisation contract in 2003. He sued for 1.5 billion lei
Romanian leu
The leu is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 bani . The name of the currency means "lion". On 1 July 2005, Romania underwent a currency reform, switching from the previous leu to a new leu . 1 RON is equal to 10,000 ROL...
(some $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
50,000) in damages, but lost.
A month after the 2008 election
Romanian legislative election, 2008
Legislative elections were held in Romania on November 30, 2008. The Democratic Liberal Party won most seats in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, although the alliance headed by the Social Democratic Party won a fractionally higher vote share.-Electoral System:President Traian Băsescu...
, in which Nica won yet another term in the Chamber, he was named vice premier in the Boc cabinet. In January 2009, following the resignation of Gabriel Oprea
Gabriel Oprea
Gabriel Oprea is a Romanian soldier and politician. A member of the National Union for the Progress of Romania and a former member of the Social Democratic Party , he has been a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Ilfov County since 2004...
and before Liviu Dragnea
Liviu Dragnea
Liviu Nicolae Dragnea is a Romanian engineer and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party and former member of the Democratic Party , he was Minister of Administration and Interior in the Emil Boc cabinet in January-February 2009.-Biography:Dragnea was born in Gratia, Teleorman County,...
took office, Nica was interim Interior Minister; when Dragnea resigned the following month, Nica again took over the ministry, a scenario that was one of several options discussed within the PSD. As vice premier, Nica had to play a balancing act when tensions appeared within the ruling PSD—PD-L
Democratic Liberal Party (Romania)
The Democratic Liberal Party is a populist, centre-right party in Romania. It was formed on 15 December 2007, when the Democratic Party merged with the Liberal Democratic Party. From 2004 to 2007, the Democratic Party was part of the governing Justice and Truth Alliance...
coalition, both urging that PSD (and PD-L) ministers show "restraint" in their public statements about the other party, and criticising the PD-L at times himself, for instance accusing Regional Development Minister Vasile Blaga
Vasile Blaga
Vasile Blaga is a Romanian politician and the current Speaker of the Upper Chamber of the Romanian Parliament, the Senate, and a former Minister of Regional Development and Housing and twice former Minister of Administration and Internal Affairs....
of "arrogance" in his attitude toward PSD ministers. As Interior Minister, he took note of alleged fraud
Electoral fraud
Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...
during the 2009 European Parliament election
European Parliament election, 2009 (Romania)
The European Parliament election of 2009 in Romania is the election of the delegation from Romania to the European Parliament in 2009.-Candidates and elected MEPs:Among those expected to take up seats are :...
, promising that those who voted more than once would be arrested, and announcing soon after the polls closed that 35 penal dossiers had already been opened for offences that included attempted fraud and giving money and food to influence voters. In late September 2009, Nica alleged that all available buses had been rented for the first and second rounds of the upcoming presidential election
Romanian presidential election, 2009
The first round of 2009 Romanian presidential elections was held in Romania on 22 November and a run-off round between Traian Băsescu and Mircea Geoană was held on 6 December 2009. Although most exit polls favored Geoană in the runoff, the authorities declared Băsescu the narrow victor with 50.33%...
, and that these would be used to transport voters to multiple polling stations so they could cast more than one ballot. Citing these comments and a deteriorating public safety situation that included a general rise in crime and a spate of armed robberies, Boc moved to dismiss Nica. On October 1, President
President of Romania
The President of Romania is the head of state of Romania. The President is directly elected by a two-round system for a five-year term . An individual may serve two terms...
Traian Băsescu
Traian Basescu
Traian Băsescu is the current President of Romania. After serving as the mayor of Bucharest from June 2000 until December 2004, he was elected president in the Romanian Presidential Elections of 2004 and inaugurated on December 20, 2004...
approved Nica's dismissal, prompting all eight of his PSD cabinet colleagues to resign in protest that day. He was elected one of the PSD's vice presidents in 2010.
Along with holding several prizes for his government and technical work, Nica has been a Knight of the Order of the Star of Romania
Order of the Star of Romania
The Order of the Star of Romania is Romania's highest civil order. It is awarded by the President of Romania...
since 2002.