Stolojan, Romania's Prime Minister for the second time

Born on October 24, 1943, in Targoviste, Stolojan has filled a series of important positions on the political scene in Romania over the years, from Finance to Prime Minister.

The man who will most likely become the ninth Prime Minister of the country after 1989, graduated from college forty-two years ago, that is in 1966, when he got his degree from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. He was fast to go into the public administration. After a short stint interning as an economist at Frigotehnica Bucuresti, he went on to become economist at the Food Industry and Agriculture Ministry.

Since 1972, Stolojan had filled various positions with the Finance Ministry that would ultimately lead to him becoming Finance Minister, which he did in 1990.

In May 1991 he became the chairman of the National Privatisation Agency, working on the first draft of the Privatisation Law and on the establishment of the State Ownership Fund.

He became Prime Minister in the autumn of the same year, after the miner uprising overthrew the Petre Roman Cabinet. He retained the position until 1992. The Stolojan Cabinet comprised Traian Basescu (Transport Minister) and Adrian Nastase (Foreign Affairs), among others. During his year as Premier, he became close friends with Traian Basescu. After leaving this position he worked at the World Bank for six years.

He was back in politics in 2000 and in 2004 was announced as presidential candidate from the D.A. Alliance (of Liberals and Democrats) teaming up with Traian Basescu who was supposed to become the Premier. He backed out in the autumn of that year, citing health concerns, an episode that has never been fully clarified. One of the most unexpected reactions of Traian Basescu was him bursting into tears at the surprise speech of Stolojan announcing he was out of the race. Basescu took over and went on to become president, appointing Stolojan as his economic advisor afterwards.

President Traian Basescu explained his choice of Theodor Stolojan as Prime Minister by saying that in these times, the government needs to be run by someone who knows the inner workings of the economic crisis and can keep it in check.

"I had set out to announce the designated Prime Minister today (yesterday i.e.). At 12 p.m. I invited the parties to let them know about the decision I had made under Article 103 of the Constitution," the president stated.