ABOUT ME
On 1 February 2020, I started my mandate as Member of the European Parliament, as a result of the fact that Romania obtained, after Brexit, a new mandate in the European Parliament. For the new mandate, I set three priorities:
o Active contribution for a social Europe, based on education, innovation/digital sector/environmental protection, health and transport;
o A greater transparency at EU level and democratisation of access to the European decision process;
o Equal rights and opportunities for all European citizens; I believe that special attention should be paid by both Romanian and European authorities to the way in which the rights of European citizens in the United Kingdom are respected.
I am a university lecturer and left-wing advocate, former delegated minister for European affairs (June 2017 – November 2018) and member of the European Parliament (July 2014 – June 2017, February 2020 – present).
On 1 February 2020, I started my mandate as Member of the European Parliament, as a result of the fact that Romania obtained, after Brexit, a new mandate in the European Parliament. I am currently the Vice-President of the Committee on Culture and Education, member of the Budget Committee, activating in the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) of the European Parliament.
Although I started my mandate in February 2020, I obtained in the first month 7,8 million Euro for the pilot projects I initiated in the field of education, digitalization and entrepreneurship. I became, therefore, the MEP with the most important pilot projects, given also that the pilot projects I initiated in my first mandate generated actions financed by the EU that amounted to approximately 60 million Euro.
Based on our initiative, the Committee on Culture and Education of the European Parliament adopted the resolution “The future of European education in the context of COVID-19”. The resolution required the European Commission to adopt a decisive intervention, including through more consistent financial allocations, in order to support the education sector, to narrow the gaps between regions and member states, as well as to ensure that all pupils, students and European citizens have access to quality education and lifelong learning.
I was the rapporteur for the European Parliament’s report on Shaping Digital Education Policy and called for the allocation of at least 10 % of the Recovery and Resilience Facility’s funding to education, more synergies between programmes and policies at European level, with a better coordination and direct implication of the European Parliament in digital education hubs. We encouraged the development of a permanent dialogue with relevant education stakeholders in order to become co-creators in the digital transformation of education and requested that the European platform for exchanging experience and best practices be finalized. Also, we requested the development of a European Digital University, the development of technical infrastructure for educational institutions, formal and non-formal, as well as the launch of the European initiative for education regarding robotics and artificial intelligence. We encouraged the idea of a European certificate for digital competences and requested member states to invest more in teacher training.
Moreover, the European Parliament approved my request to allocate 2% of the European recovery and resilience facility to the cultural and creative sector. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this sector contributed to approximately 10% of the Romania’s GDP and hired over 300.000 individuals.
My alternative report regarding the new strategy for SMEs requested the European Commission, in the perspective of the future European strategy for SMEs, to develop efficient and personalized measures, adapted to different regions and sectors. My report contains a firm request to create 1 million new start-ups at European level.
I also created the European Education Alliance, a cross-sectoral and cross-party platform developed to support education, the first Romanian education tablet, a video channel for education and a cultural website by which cultural events can be accessed remotely – www.culturadeacasa.ro.
Being elected in the Brexit context, I did not forget the Romanians in the United Kingdom and I believe that special attention should be paid by both Romanian and European authorities to the way in which the rights of European citizens in the United Kingdom are respected.
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Professional experience
I began my professional career as a journalist at Radio France Internationale, collaborating also with the prestigious publications Le Monde diplomatique and Regard. Simultaneously, I formed a youth organization, AEF Romania that brought together over 1.000 young individuals passionate about the French language that also supported the organization of the Francophonie Summit in Romania.
I started the university career in 2009 at the Christian University “Dimitrie Cantemir”, then in 2012 I joined the National University for Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA). I also taught at the University of Bologna, during an academic mobility, and in 2020 I taught a seminar regarding international and European policies at the prestigious Catholic University of Louvain. At SNSPA I developed the master’s program “Development, International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid”, in English, and also the Institute for International Cooperation and Development (research institute).
Also, I was vice-rector of SNSPA (2019), the main responsibility consisting in coordinating projects and specific activities in order to develop the university’s European profile. Also at SNSPA, I developed the Institute for Global Digital Policies (research institute) and supported the creation of the master’s program “Security and Technology”, in English. In this context, I was involved in the project of the European University of Social Sciences – CIVICA, a European academic consortium of which SNSPA is part of.
At the beginning of my career, I worked as advisor in the Romanian Parliament, the European Parliament and the Ministry of Energy. Initiator of several entrepreneurial projects in the fields of human resources and online communication, I was part, prior to being elected in the European Parliament, of the Romanian management team of one of the strongest outsourcing companies at global level. Specialized in communication and business development, I contributed to the company’s expansion, that currently has over 2.000 employees in Romania.
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Education and formation
I completed secondary education abroad, at the Longchamp School – Bruxelles, Belgium (1997-1998), Notre Dame des Champs Institute – Bruxelles, Belgium (1998-2001), „Victor Duruy“ Highschool – Paris, France (2001-2004). I obtained a B.A. in political science from the University of Bucharest in 2008 and an M.A. in European and international affairs from the University Pierre Mendes France / IEP Grenoble based on a Francophone University Agency (AUF) scholarship. I obtained my Ph.D. in political science and European affairs in 2011, from the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, after having participated in an academic stage at the European College in Bruges. The subject of my Ph.D. thesis, the first having this profile in Romania, is “European policies for development cooperation: between international public relations and public policies”. In 2012 I obtained an MBA from the Academy of Economic Studies and CNAM Paris. In the last few years, I enrolled in several programs offered by the US State Department, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Foundation for European Progressive Studies, Renner Institute, HarvardX sau MITx.
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Political activity
I have been civically engaged since I was 17 years of age, being first actively involved in the movements for pupils’ rights in France, thereafter a sympathizer of the French Socialist Party and, finally, a member of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSD). I held the positions of vice-president of PSD 3rd District / spokesman, president of PSD Alba Iulia, PSD vice-president, respectively president-national coordinator of PES activists Romania. As of 2022, I also hold the position of vice-president of the Party of European Socialists (PES).
PES activists Romania is a structure of the members and left-wing sympathizers interested in European politics, created in 2007 that bring together over 10.000 members nationwide. PES activists Romania supports the activity of the Party of European Socials and of the national political groups included in the formation, constituting, at the same time, the source of European demands and proposals.
The organization prides itself with an average of three events per month and hundreds of actions performed as of its establishment.
One significant action developed by the organization has been the petition launched in 2015 by which, together with PES activists Romania, we asked for Romania’s adhesion to Schengen. The petition „Romania requests Schengen!” gathered over 40.000 signatures nationwide. The subject has been promoted also in the European Parliament’s plenary.In 2019 PES activists Romania launched, within the campaign „Romanians, European citizens with full rights. For the creation of a European citizenship “, a petition through which it intended to promote a European citizenship project that would cancel, at European level, existing differences between citizens of various member states of the European Union. The petition collected in Romania over 20.000 signatures, being registered (under number 0483/2019) and officially recognized by the European Parliament.
Under the coordination of our team, in January 2020 PES activists Romania initiated the petition “For equal opportunities in the European Union: a European minimum wage!”, that supported the setting of the minimum wage of each EU member state based on the mechanism proposed in the European Social Charter, in which the ratio between the national gross minimum wage and the national medium wage should be of minimum 60%.
Another petition initiated by the Social Democratic Party, with the support of PES activists Romania, was “Equal rights for Romanian workers in the EU”, signed by 50.000 individuals and submitted to the European Parliament, with the scope of requesting European institutions to analyse the abuses that arose in relation to Romanian citizens in the pandemic context, and to impose the respect for workers’ rights, according to European recommendations and regulations. The European Parliament required that additional investigations be performed.
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Activity as MEP (2014-2017)
In my first mandate (2014-2017) I attracted over 9,3 million Euro for pilot projects consisting in Romanian industry and research, development of the digital sector and increased access to healthcare services in the rural area, being the Romanian MEP with the most pilot projects financed at European level. The pilot projects generated initiatives financed at European level of approximately 50 million Euro.
I created and became the coordinator of the network of S&D MEPs under 40 years (S&D40), member in the leadership group of the network EU40 and ambassador of the European network eSkills for jobs. I also developed the transatlantic network of politicians under 40 years.
I am the first Romanian to obtain the prize MEP of the Year in the category Digital Agenda and Internet.
I contributed as MEP to mobilizing over 28 million Euro to support a number of approximately 40.000 dismissed European workers and organized the launch, in Romania, of the PES Pact for European Youth, subsequently transformed in measures to combat unemployment and to create new jobs for youth at European level. For the health sector I promoted the “European Health Guarantee” that called for the creation of a European health fund and addressed a series of interpellations to the European Commission to ensure better conditions for Romanian doctors and researchers.
Moreover, I defended the rights of Romanians and promoted Romania in Europe through initiatives such as submitting the petition „Romania requests Schengen!” in the European Parliament, that gathered over 40.000 signatures, as well as supporting the Romanian diaspora in Belgium through specific activities, such as the festival “Romanian Spring in Brussels”.
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Activity as minister
Since I started my mandated as delegated minister for European affairs, I set three central objectives in the activity as minister, based on my experience in European politics:
– Political and national consensus regarding European affairs and on the mandate of Romania’s Presidency to the EU Council, in the first semester of 2019 (objective fulfilled by the unanimous approval, in the resort committees of the Romanian Parliament, of our priorities and at governmental level, with 25 positive endorsements, of the document for strategic orientation)
– Democratization and transparency of access to European information (objective fulfilled by citizen consultations regarding the future of the EU, organized nationwide)
– A new attitude in the field of European affairs (objective fulfilled by creating the Trio Romania-Germany-France at the level of European affairs ministers and starting the Presidency of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, mandate that Romania held in the period November 2018-October 2019)
As a minister, I managed the process of preparing the Romanian Presidency to the EU Council, a process which was on track in November 2018, both from the political perspective, as well as logistically. During my mandate there have adopted, among others, the logo, slogan, priorities and interest themes of Romania’s mandate, the official website www.romania2019.eu was launched and the dialogue with European official has been intensified, and also with Finland and Croatia, countries with which Romania formed the Trio Presidency of the EU Council (January 2019-June 2020).
I acted for the protection of Romanian citizens’ rights in the United Kingdom, contributing to defining the Romanian Government’s strategy for the Brexit process. Also, during my mandate, the SOLVIT Romania service has been launched, which resolved 99% of cases managed during 2017.
As minister, I also granted special attention to the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, instituting a coordination mechanism at governmental level and having a significant contribution in Romania’s obtaining of the Presidency of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (November 2018 – October 2019). I have also been a supporter of the European integration of the Republic of Moldova, being one of the governmental officials that constantly contributed to intensifying the political and diplomatic cooperation between the two countries.
During my mandate, I have created, in premiere in Romania, a trio format of European affairs ministers of Romania, Germany and France, that held several work meetings. In November 2018, with the finalization of preparing the Romanian Presidency to the EU Council, I concluded my mandate, requiring political actors in Romania more coherence in the approach towards European affairs, political consensus on European themes, and respect for European values and affirming a country project in the EU.
