Roxana Mînzatu is Romania’s proposal for European Commissioner, PM Ciolacu says

Romanian prime minister Marcel Ciolacu announced during a press conference on Monday, September 2, that Romania's proposal for the position of European Commissioner is MEP Roxana Mînzatu.

Mînzatu is 44 years old and graduated from the Faculty of Political and Administrative Sciences (specialization in English Political Science) at the University of Bucharest (2002), holds a Master's degree in European Integration (2005), and is a graduate of the Public Leadership Credential program at Harvard Kennedy School of Government (2022).

According to the CV posted on the Government's website cited by News.ro, she has extensive experience in the field of European funds gained in the private sector, non-governmental sector, and public offices. Since 2004, she has been an integration advisor in the Ministry of European Integration and has worked as a consultant, project manager, and trainer in companies from Bucharest, Brussels, and Brașov.

She has led the Romanian Business School Foundation – Brașov and has prepared and implemented projects with European or national funding for companies, local public administrations, and non-governmental organizations.

Roxana Mînzatu has also held public office positions. She was a PSD county councilor in the Brașov County Council (2004-2008, 2011-2012). In 2009, she was the Deputy Prefect of Brașov County (March-October 2009). In 2015, as Secretary of State in the Ministry of European Funds and later as President of the National Agency for Public Procurement, she coordinated the development and implementation of the public procurement reform strategy and the public procurement laws.

She also served as a PSD deputy for Brașov (December 2016-December 2020) and was the Minister of European Funds (June 10 – November 4, 2019).

During the same press conference, prime minister Ciolacu also mentioned that he is set to discuss with the President of the European Commission in the upcoming period about the portfolio that will be assigned to Romania. He further stated that Roxana Mînzatu's interview with the President of the European Commission took place on Sunday, lasted over an hour, and she passed it decisively.

The Romanian government also considered MEP Victor Negrescu for the position of commissioner. However, EC head Ursula von der Leyen reportedly asked Romania to come up with a woman candidate to help the Commission reach a gender parity, according to Victor Negrescu, cited by