Romanian MEP re-elected one of 14 European Parliament VPs

Romanian MEP Ioan Mircea Pașcu was re-elected one of the 14 vice-presidents of the European Parliament after the January 17 mid-term elections, which saw Italian Antonio Tajani become the new president of the European body. Pașcu had held the same post since October 2014, when he replaced Romanian MEP Corina Creţu, who left the position to become Romania’s European commissioner, politico.eu explains. A member of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Pașcu was elected in the second round, with 517 votes. Candidates for the VP positions are nominated after the election of the EP President. They must win the support of an absolute majority of those casting valid ballots. If not all 14 posts are filled in the first round, a second round is held. The order of precedence determines which vice-president is to replace the president in when he is absent or unable to discharge his duties. Pașcu’s portfolio as a vice-president of the European Parliament includedso far the House of European History museum (jointly with then VP Antonio Tajani), Multilingualism, being a member in the work group on ICT Innovation Strategy, replacing the President for multilateral bodies (security) including NATO and OSCE, and replacing the president for Neighborhood policy (East / Euronest) as a secondary responsibility. A former minister of defense in the cabinet of prime minister Adrian Năstase between 2000 and 2004, Ioan Mircea Pașcu held various local academic and political posts before joining the European Parliament in 2007, the year Romania joined the European Union. Born in 1949 in Satu Mare, he is a graduate of the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest and holds a PhD in Political Sciences, which he earned in 1980 from the Institute for Political Sciences. He taught between 1990 and 2000, and was a dean of the International Relations department of the National School of Political and Administrative Studies SNSPA in 1990, according to his bio presented by Agerpres. He was a member of the National Salvation Front FSN between 1989 and 1992, and a member of the Romanian Social Democracy Party PDSR since 1996. He was a vice-president of PDSR from 1997 to 2001, when the PSDR turned into the Social Democracy Party PSD, and then a vice-president of PSD until 2006. Between 1990 and 1992 he was a presidential adviser, the director of the Foreign Affairs division of the Political Analysis Department of the Romanian Presidency. Between 1993 and 1996 he was a state secretary for defense and international relations policy at the National Defense Ministry. He represented Maramures county as a deputy in the Romanian parliament between 1996 and 2000, and then Satu Mare between 2000 and 2007. The full list of European Parliament VPs and the results of the votes cast can be read