Victor Ponta

Victor Viorel Ponta (born 20 September 1972) is a Romanian jurist and politician, who served as Prime Minister of Romania between his appointment by President Traian Băsescu in May 2012 and his resignation in November 2015.

Victor Ponta was born in Bucharest, completing secondary studies in 1991 at the city's Ion Neculce High School.

In 1995, he graduated from the University of Bucharest's Law faculty.

From 1995 to 1998, Ponta worked as a prosecutor handling cases at the Sector 1 courthouse.

Between 1996 and 1998, and since 2002, he has taught Criminal Law at the Romanian-American University.

From 1998 to 2001, he was a prosecutor at the Supreme Court of Justice in the anti-corruption division, in particular dealing with economic and financial crimes.

From 2000 to 2001, he coordinated the Bureau for Combating Money Laundering.

From 2001 to 2004, Ponta held the rank of Secretary of State as head of the government's Control Department.

In 2001 he also joined the supervisory council of the Authority for State Assets Recovery, and that year he was part of a special committee investigating penal infractions committed by members of the government.

He received a degree from the Carol I National Defence University in 2002, and in 2003 received a doctorate in Criminal Law from the University of Bucharest and a master's degree in Political Management from the Social Democratic Institute.

He has written several books in his field, including one on the International Criminal Court, the subject of his doctoral thesis.

In April 2002, Cristian Panait, a prosecutor involved in cases connected to then-Prime Minister Adrian Năstase, fell from the third-floor window of his home.

He died the following day, and the incident was ruled a suicide a day later.

The following January, his aunt filed suit to contest the fact that no charges were filed, claiming his superiors pushed him toward suicide.

The complained also mentioned Panait's fellow prosecutor Ponta, claiming the former had told her, "that dog Victor Ponta did me in".

She also said the two had been friends until Panait accused Ponta of influence peddling due to what he saw as the latter's involvement with underworld figures.

In reply, Ponta mentioned he had called for the investigation into Panait's death to be reopened, stating the two had not met for some six months before that event, and that there had been no breach in their friendship.

A PSD member by 2002, he was from July to November of that year head of the Interim National Council of the Social Democratic Youth (TSD).

That October, he became a member of the PSD's national council, and joined its executive bureau the following month, when he also became president of the TSD, remaining as such for four years.

Ponta was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Gorj County from 2004 to 2020.

In March 2004, he became Minister-Delegate for Control of International Grant Programmes Implementation and for Monitoring the Application of the Acquis Communautaire.

At the 2004 election, Ponta won a seat in the Chamber of Deputies, where he served as both secretary and vice president of its permanent bureau; he was re-elected in 2008.

That December, he became a minister in the incoming Boc cabinet.

Upon winning confirmation, Ponta pledged to reduce the number of emergency ordinances issued by the government and to assist Parliament in exercising control over the cabinet.

In 2005, he became a vice president of Ecosy, while he has been a vice president of the PSD since December 2006.

In 2006, a civil servant at the Ministry of Education (who was in an ongoing feud with Ponta) charged that Ponta, while holding this office, covered up corrupt activities undertaken by former minister Hildegard Puwak, who was cleared of wrongdoing in a report issued by Ponta.

Additionally, he helped uncover cases of fraudulent use of Phare funds.

In the Emil Boc cabinet, he was Minister-Delegate for Relations with Parliament from 2008 to 2009.

Ponta began his time as head of government with a victory for his alliance in local elections, as well as criticism from civil society after several prominent Băsescu-associated figures in government-funded culture and history institutes were removed or resigned from their posts.

Eventually, a political crisis broke out with the replacement of the heads of each legislative chamber and an attempt to dismiss Băsescu – an effort that ultimately failed when the subsequent impeachment referendum was invalidated by the Constitutional Court due to low turnout.

Meanwhile, Ponta was the subject of controversy due to allegations of plagiarism in his doctoral thesis.

Seven months after gaining office, Ponta helped lead the USL to a decisive victory in parliamentary elections, prompting his appointment to a full four-year term as premier.

A little over a year later, the USL fell apart and Ponta formed a new cabinet with the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) as coalition partners.

A former member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and its leader from 2010 to 2015, he was also joint leader (2012–2014) of the then-governing Social Liberal Union (USL), an alliance with the National Liberal Party (PNL).

Prior to the 2012 legislative election, opposition campaigner Adriean Videanu charged that Ponta's "blackmail" and "threats" had pushed Panait to kill himself.

A finalist in the November 2014 presidential election, Ponta lost to PNL candidate Klaus Iohannis.

The following month, the UDMR quit government, prompting Ponta to form a fourth cabinet, with the Conservative Party (PC) and the Liberal Reformist Party (PLR) as junior partners.

The cabinet was in office for slightly less than a year, resigning in the wake of the Colectiv nightclub fire.

According to Ponta, his family, originally called Ponte, originated in Trieste, now in Italy, and reached Transylvania around the turn of the 20th century in order to help build a road from Pecica to Nădlac commissioned by the Austro-Hungarian authorities.

He has also claimed ancestry from the village of Moscopole located in Albania, accounting for the Aromanian descent on his maternal side.