Vasile Blaga
Blaga in 2012
Member of theSenate of Romania
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 December 2024
Constituency	Timiş
In office 13 December 2004 – 19 December 2016
Constituency	Bucharest
In office 22 November 1996 – 10 December 2000
Constituency	Bihor County
Member of the European Parliament fromRomania
In office 2 July 2019 – 15 July 2024
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 theChamber 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 ofBihor County
In office 1991–1993
Co-President of theNational Liberal Party
In office 18 December 2014 – 28 September 2016 Serving with Alina Gorghiu
Preceded by	Klaus Iohannis
Succeeded by	Alina Gorghiu
President of theDemocratic Liberal Party
In office 30 June 2012 – 17 November 2014
Preceded by	Emil Boc
Succeeded by	Klaus Iohannis (merged within theNational Liberal Party)
Personal details
Born	(1956-07-26)26 July 1956 (age 68) 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[1] Carol I National Defence University

Vasile Blaga (Romanian pronunciation:[vaˈsileˈblaɡa]; born 26 July 1956) is a Romanian centre-right politician who is currently serving as aSenator of Romania since December 21, 2024, representingTimiș County. He previously held the same position from 1996 to 2000 (representingBihor County) and again from 2004 to 2016 (representingBucharest). Between 2011 and 2012, he also briefly served asPresident of the Senate of Romania.

Between 2019 and 2024, he took a five-year break from national politics, during which he served as aMember of the European Parliament (MEP).

His ministerial career includes two terms asMinister of Internal Affairs (2004–2007, 2009–2010) underCălin Popescu-Tăriceanu andEmil Boc, as well as serving asMinister of Regional Development and Public Administration (2008–2009).

In addition to his government roles, Blaga wasPresident of the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) from 2012 to 2014 and later served asCo-President of the National Liberal Party (PNL) alongsideAlina Gorghiu (2014–2016) following the merger of the two parties.

Earlier in his career, he wasPrefect ofBihor County (1991–1993) and aMember of the Chamber of Deputies (1990–1992).

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

Following thelegislative election of 1996, he became a member of theRomanian Senate from the Democratic Party, representing Bihor County. He was reelected at the2004 election for theJustice and Truth Alliance (DA), of which the Democratic Party (PD) was a member, representingBucharest (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 mayorAdriean Videanu, who did not want to compete for a second term.

He came second in the first round of the elections, trailing independentSorin Oprescu. For the second round, he gained the support ofGigi Becali'sNew Generation Party (PNG)^[2] and of the Social Democrat mayor Bucharest's Sector 2, Neculai Onțanu,^[3] as well as the opposition ofNational Liberal Party (PNL) and theSocial Democratic Party (PSD).^[4] Oprescu won the race on a 56-44 margin.^[5] He was the president of the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) until its dissolution in the summer of 2014, when it merged with theNational Liberal Party (PNL), of which he served as co-president, along withAlina Gorghiu, until 28 September 2016.^[6] On that date, Blaga was charged withinfluence peddling by theNational Anticorruption Directorate and announced his resignation as party co-leader, though he maintained he is innocent.^[7]

• (in Romanian)Profile of Vasile Blaga on the Romanian Chamber of Deputies site

• 1956 births
• Living people
• People from Bihor County
• Politehnica University of Timișoara alumni
• Romanian presidential advisors
• Democratic Liberal Party (Romania) politicians
• Ministers of interior of Romania
• Ministers of regional development of Romania
• Presidents of the Senate of Romania
• Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania)
• Prefects of Romania
• MEPs for Romania 2019–2024
• Chairpersons of the National Liberal Party (Romania)

• Articles with Romanian-language sources (ro)
• Webarchive template wayback links
• CS1 Romanian-language sources (ro)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Pages with Romanian IPA