EIN SUMMER UNIVERSITY BUCHAREST - European Ideas Network

Valentin M. IONESCU
Political career
Mr. Ionescu is a Romanian lawyer, former presidential adviser to the President of Romania Emil Constantinescu (1997) and
subsequently Minister of Privatization (December 1997 - April 1998).
From January 1997 until his nomination as presidential adviser (September 1997), he was the President of the National Privatization
Agency (NPA). In this capacity and later on as Minister of Privatization, Valentin M.Ionescu initiated several public policies, such as the
Leasing Act, Franchising Act, Commodity Exchange Act, Venture Capital Act, as a means to supporting the private sector’s development
in Romania. He initiated the review of the entire privatization legal framework in the manufacturing industry and services, which is
claimed to have given impetus to the denationalization of the economy between 1997 and 1999.
After the setting up of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Radu Vasile, Mr. Valentin M.Ionescu withdrew from the centre
of the political power.
In 1999, Valentin M.Ionescu left the NPP-CD (National Peasants Party - Christian and Democrat) and become active in the
URF (Union of the Rightist Forces). After the conclusion of the alliance between URF and NPP-CD, Valentin M.Ionescu joined
NLP (National Liberal Party). He was a member of this later Party leadership (September 2002 - February 2005).
Since 2007, Valentin M.Ionescu is a member of the PD-L (Democrat-Liberal Party).
In June 2011, Mr. Valentin M.Ionescu launched the Group for Ordo-liberalism and Social Market Economy, with the support of
the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Institute for the Popular Studies (the Liberal Democratic Party’s Foundation).
The Group for Ordo-liberalism and Social Market Economy advocates for minimal state, the public service reform, as well as
for the economic and social order implementation from a liberal approach.
Professional career
After his departure from political life, Mr. Valentin M. Ionescu had the opportunity to play a special part in the team that worked out the
National Strategy for Sustainable Development (1998), and the Romania’s Medium Term Economic Strategy and the core chapters of its
Action Plan two years later (2000). He also became expert in several projects financed by USAID, PHARE, and OECD with regard to the
private sector development in Romania, or Local Agenda 21. Since 2005, Mr. Valentin M. Ionescu is running his own consulting firm.
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Sorin IONITA
Policy analyst, development expert, think tank leader, representative of Romania in the European
Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
2007: PhD in Political Science&Public Policy, National School of Government (SNSPA), Bucharest
2000-2001: Fulbright fellow at the Georgetown University, Washington DC – the Public Policy
Institute
1997: MA in Political Science, Central European University (CEU), Budapest, Hungary
2010-2015 : Member of the European Economic and Social Council (EESC), in the Transport-
Energy (TEN) and Eco-Agro-Development (NAT) sections
2009- : Board member of the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR)
2006- : Member of the Regional Studies Association
2005- : Member of Team Europe
2005-: Member of the Directory Board of the Romanian Social Development Fund 2005-2006: International Policy Fellow of OSI, Budapest
2004- : Member of the national board of the Young Professional Scheme
2001-2002: Fellow of the joint program Fiscal Decentralization Initiative (FDI) of the World Bank - LGI Budapest
Hillary semester, 2000: research fellow at the Nuffield College, Oxford University
Member of the Global Development Network (GDN) of the World Bank, the CEE chapter
1999-2000: fellow of the New Europe College, Bucharest
May-June 1999: Freedom House intern in United States
2011 - : SENIOR ANALYST with Expert Forum (EFOR), think tank dedicated to the promotion of good governance
1997-2011: RESEARCH DIRECTOR of the Romanian Academic Society (SAR), a Bucharest-based think tank, leading
Romanian organization working in the fields of democratization and public policy analysis.
since 2008: Visiting lecturer, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj, Department of Political Science and Public Administration; courses
in Public Management and Local and Regional Development
since 2004: Member of the Directory Board of the Romanian Social Development Fund (FRDS, joint domestic-World Bank
development agency for poor communities in Romania)
Consultant with the World Bank, Council of Europe, UNDP in various institutional reform initiatives in Romania, Moldova
and Western Balkans.
2005- : Freelance columnist for the Romanian daily newspaper, Evenimentul Zilei
European Ideas Network