site.btaRomania to Nominate Roxana Mînzatu for EU Commissioner

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced that the Romanian proposal for a new EU Commissioner is Roxana Mînzatu, reported digi24.ro. He added that she is the "right person" for the job. "Our country will have a relevant portfolio", the head of government also said as he was asked what portfolio Romania will have.

"After the meeting with the parliamentary groups, I had several phone conversations. Now I will go to the Government and make the nomination and in the following period I will continue the discussions with the President of the EU Commission to specify the portfolio," he said. It transpired that EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had an interview with Roxana Mînzatu on Sunday and that it lasted an hour and a half.

He added that afterwards the EU Commission President only had words of praise for the Romanian nominee.

Initially, the prime minister and leader of the Social Democratic Party suggested the current MEP Victor Negrescu for this position, but as Von der Leyen asked EU member states to nominate a man and a woman, Ciolacu commented last Thursday that if the most suitable person for the portfolio which will go to Romania, is a woman, then he will nominate a woman. 

Who is Roxana Mînzatu

Roxana Mînzatu, 44, heads a department for integrated evaluation and monitoring of programs financed with public and EU funds. She has the rank of state secretary.

According to the CV published on the website of the Romanian executive, she graduated from the Faculty of Political and Administrative Sciences (specialization in English Political Sciences) at the University of Bucharest (2002), holds a master's degree in European integration (2005) and is a graduate of the Public Leadership program of Harvard Kennedy School of Government (2022). Mânzatu has extensive experience in the field of European funding, acquired both in the private environment, in the non-governmental environment and also through public positions. She has served as integration advisor in the Ministry of European Integration, as consultant, project manager and trainer in companies from Bucharest, Brussels and Brasov; has led the establishment of the Romanian Business School – Brasov. In 2015, she was secretary of state in the Ministry of European Funds and then president of the National Agency for Public Procurement. In 2019, she was minister in charge of EU funding.