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Viorica Dăncilă | |
|---|---|
 Dăncilă in 2019 | |
| Prime Minister of Romania | |
| In office 29 January 2018 – 4 November 2019 | |
| President | Klaus Iohannis |
| Preceded by | Mihai Tudose |
| Succeeded by | Ludovic Orban |
| President of theSocial Democratic Party | |
| In office 27 May 2019 – 26 November 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Liviu Dragnea |
| Succeeded by | Marcel Ciolacu |
| President ofNation People Together | |
| In office 12 April 2022 – 11 September 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Party established |
| Succeeded by | Francesco-Ionel Şerban |
| Member of the European Parliament forRomania | |
| In office 21 January 2009 – 28 January 2018 | |
| Succeeded by | Gabriela Zoană |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Vasilica Viorica Nica (1963-12-16)16 December 1963 (age 62) |
| Other political affiliations | PNCR (2024)[1] PSD (1996–2022) NOI (2022–2024) |
| Spouse | Cristinel Dăncilă |
| Children | 1 |
| Education | Petroleum-Gas University National University of Political Studies and Public Administration |
Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă (Romanian pronunciation:[vasiˈlikavi.oˈrikadənˈtʃilə]; born 16 December 1963)[2] is a Romanian politician, former leader of theSocial Democratic Party (PSD), and wasPrime Minister of Romania from 29 January 2018 to 4 November 2019.[3] She is the first woman in Romanian history to hold both the office of Prime Minister(current only woman) and that of president of the PSD. In 2014, she was elected to a second term as aMember of the European Parliament (MEP), representing the PSD. She was also president of the Social Democratic Women's Organization (OFSD) between 2015 and 2018.
Dăncilă became a member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) in 1996, as part of the party's organization inTeleorman County.[4] Over the years she has held several positions in both PSD and the local administration. She was a local council and a county councilor until 2009, when she was elected to her first term as an MEP. Also she occupied several leadership positions in the party, as president of the local organization, vice president of PSD Teleorman and president of OFSD Teleorman. In 2022, she resigned from the PSD to join the then-newly founded party Nation People Together, of which she became president.[5] She joined theRomanian National Conservative Party in September 2024.[6]
Before entering politics Dăncilă was an engineer withPetrom SA, and prior to that a teacher atVidele Industrial High School.
Vasilica Viorica Dăncilă (née Nica[7]) was born on 16 December1963 inRoșiorii de Vede,Teleorman County. In 1988, she graduated from the Faculty of Drilling of Wells and Exploitation of Hydrocarbon Deposits of theInstitute of Petroleum and Gas inPloiești.[8] In 2006 Dăncilă obtained the master in European Public Space at theNational School of Political and Administrative Studies inBucharest.[8]
In 2009, Viorica Dăncilă was elected on the lists of theSocial Democratic Party (PSD) for her first term as amember of the European Parliament and then sat as a member of theProgressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group.[9] During the 5-year term, she did not draft any report as a rapporteur (primary legislator).
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In 2014, Viorica Dăncilă was elected for another term as MEP on the Social Democratic Party's list. She was also the leader of the Romanian Social Democrat delegation in the EP and a vice chair of the European Parliament'sCommittee on Agriculture and Rural Development.[10] She was also a full member of theCommittee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality[11] and a substitute member of theCommittee on Regional Development.
In 2015, she was shortlisted for the MEP Awards, in the Agriculture category.[12] Two years later, in 2017, she was again nominated, in two separate categories: Women's Rights & Gender Equality and Research & Innovation.
She officially left the European Parliament on 28 January 2018[13] to take up the position of prime minister in Romania.
In 2015, social democratic women proposed a Pact to the national political forces which aimed to protect women fromdomestic violence.[14] This was an initiative of Viorica Dăncilă, then the acting chairwoman of the organization, brought up at the OFSD Summer School inMamaia, on 28–30 August.
In October 2015, she was elected President of the Social Democratic Women's Organization.[15] As President of OFSD, Viorica Dăncilă asked PSD leaders to ensure a quota of at least 30% female candidates on the lists of the Social Democratic Party during elections. The proposal was approved by the PSD leadership.
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On 17 January 2018, President of the Social Democratic PartyLiviu Dragnea nominated Viorica Dăncilă as Romania's first female prime minister and the country's third head of government in a year.[16] Her predecessor,Mihai Tudose, resigned on 15 January after his own party withdrew its backing.[17] PresidentKlaus Iohannis accepted PSD's nomination and appointed Dăncilă asprime minister-designate in a move harshly criticized by his supporters and main opposition parties.[18][19]Her cabinet received thevote of confidence from Parliament on 29 January.[20][21]
She was ousted as prime minister on 10 October 2019, following a vote of no confidence. She remained as a caretaker of the office until the formation of a new government.[22]
In March 2022, after an over 2-year brief break from politics, she announced her resignation from the PSD in order to become a member of a newly founded (at the time) party, called theNation People Together (NOI),[23] of which she became president three month later.[5]
Dăncilă joinedCristian Terheș'Romanian National Conservative Party in September 2024.[6]
In February 2018, Dăncilă was in center of adiscrimination scandal. She catalogued theMEP's who "misinform theEU" with regard to changes to the justice laws as "autistic". Soon after, the Association of Parents of Children with Autism claimed that the use of the term "autistic" with a profoundly negative meaning in a political dispute is an offense to those with this condition. Moreover, theNational Council for Combating Discrimination began the hearing procedures of Viorica Dăncilă for her perceived discriminatory comments. She later apologized for the statement and said that, through the comparison, she did not want to insult people withautism spectrum disorders.[24][25][26][27]
She was also criticized for showing a lack of knowledge for proper grammar inRomanian, a lack of verbal fluidity, poor knowledge of terms and subjects related to her tasks. The rector of theUniversity of Bucharest and former Minister of Education, Mircea Dumitru, characterized her language as "hard to understand" and "full of syntactic construction errors and logical inconsistencies."[28][29][30][31][32][33]
After repeatedly avoiding meetings and phone conversations on domestic and international issues with PresidentKlaus Iohannis, the latter asked her to resign, arguing that she "does not cope with the position of prime minister and turns the Government into a vulnerability of Romania." Moreover, Iohannis accused Dăncilă of obeying "orders from the party" and announced that he withdrew his confidence in her.[34][35]
On May 17, 2018,Ludovic Orban, leader of the main opposition party, theNational Liberal Party (PNL), filed a criminal complaint against Dăncilă for high treason and usurping of official qualities about the transfer of the Romanian embassy fromTel Aviv toJerusalem without the consent and approval of PresidentKlaus Iohannis. One month later, on June 28, 2018, theDirectorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) announced that it had started the in rem investigation into the matter. On September 28, 2018, DIICOT announced it concluded the investigation and closed the case on the basis of lack of evidence in support of the accusation, stating that the high treason never occurred.[36][37][38]
In July 2018, during a meeting with the Prime Minister of Montenegro,Duško Marković, she confused the capital of the country,Podgorica, withPristina, the capital ofKosovo, which isnot recognized as an independent nation by Romania.[39]
Viorica Dăncilă is married to Cristinel Dăncilă, manager at an oil company and former councillor in theTeleorman County Council.[40][41] She has an adopted son, Victor.[40]
| Election | Affiliation | First round | Second round | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | Percentage | Position | Votes | Percentage | Position | ||
| 2019 | PSD | 2,051,725 | 22.3% | 2nd | 3,339,922 | 33.91% | 2nd |
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Romania 2018–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | President of theSocial Democratic Party 2019 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| People | |
