Klaus Johannis

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Klaus Johannis (born June 13, 1959, in Sibiu) is a Romanian teacher and politician of German ethnicity. Since 2000 he has been the mayor of Sibiu (re-elected 2004).

After graduating in physics, Johannis worked as a high school teacher and then became school superintendent of Sibiu County. In 2000 the ethnic Germans' party of Sibiu (DFDR, Democratic Forum of the Germans in Romania) decided to run him as a candidate for mayor. Despite the fact that Sibiu's German minority had shrunken to a mere 1.6 %, Johannis has won two elections in a row, winning the 2004 election with 88.7% of the vote.

He is the first ethnic German mayor of a Romanian city since Alfred Dörr (served 1940 to 1945).

Throughout his tenure as mayor, he has managed to trigger the restoration of the town's infrastructure, restoration of its historic center, and a tightening of its administration. Johannis has worked with a city council majority of Romanian Social Democrats.

Johannis established important contacts with foreign politicians and investors. Sibiu was declared European Capital of Culture of 2007, together with Luxembourg (the bearer of the distinction in 1995).

On November 4, 2005, Johannis was nominated "Personality of the Year for a European Romania" (Personalitatea anului pentru o Românie europeană) by the Eurolink – House of Europe organization.