Victor Ciorbea
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Victor Ciorbea (born on October 26, 1954) is a Romanian politician. He was the Mayor of Bucharest in 1996-1997 and, after his resignation from office, Prime Minister of Romania from December 12, 1996 to March 30, 1998.
[edit] Biography
Born in Ponor, Alba County, Ciorbea trained as a jurist (graduating from the University of Cluj-Napoca in 1979), and worked for the municipal tribunal in Bucharest, as well as lecturing in Law at the University of Bucharest. He was awarded a doctorate in Law by the University of Bucharest, and later specialized in management at the Case Western Reserve University in the United States (1992).
Originally a trade unionist (between 1990 and 1996, he was leader of the Federation of Free Trade Unions in Education, FSLI, and, between 1990 and 1993, leader of the nation-wide National Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Romania - Brotherhood) and member of the National Peasants' Party (PNŢCD), he was backed for the premiership by the Romanian Democratic Convention after the elections of 1996. Ciorbea enforced several measures in order to advance Romania's transition toward a market economy, including an austerity budget (following a program known as Contractul cu România - "Contract with Romania").
He resigned following a conflict with PNŢCD leader Ion Diaconescu, moving on to found the minor Alianţa Natională Creştin Democrată (the National Christian Democratic Alliance, ANCD), which merged back into the PNŢCD after the latter lost the 2000 elections, and soon after became leader of the reunited party.
Faced with the task of regaining voter confidence, Ciorbea resigned his party office in 2004, in favour of Gheorghe Ciuhandu, the Mayor of Timişoara. Following the latter's nomination, the party became the Christian-Democratic People's Party.
