Hildegard Puwak

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Hildegard Puwak (born September 16, 1949, in Reşiţa) is a Romanian politician, member of the Social Democratic Party, who served as the Minister for European Integration from 2000 until October 2003 (as part of the Adrian Năstase cabinet). Puwak is of German ethnicity.

[edit] Corruption scandal

In August 2003, a corruption scandal broke out when BBC Romania reported that some companies owned by her and her family (her son and husband) received non-reimbursable funds (about 150,000 euros) allocated by the Leonardo de Vinci fund of the European Union, granted when she was the minister in charge of allocating them. The dossiers requesting these funds were sent on 19 January 2001, three weeks after Puwak became a minister.

BBC affirmed that the data they received from the EU contradicts her declaration of not having requested any investment funds while she was a minister.

Both the government members and the ruling party took Puwak's side during this scandal, the official stance of the government being that she did not broke any law and so it was the stance of the Romanian Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Office.

On 21 October 2003 she resigned, together with two other ministers in the Năstase government.

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Adrian Năstase cabinet (2000-2004)

Prime Minister: Adrian Năstase/Eugen Bejinariu
Ministers of State: Alexandru Athanasiu • Ioan Rus • Marian Săniuţă • Dan Ioan Popescu • Ioan Talpeş

Ministers: Rodica Stănoiu/Cristian Diaconescu (Justice) • Ioan Mircea Paşcu (Defense) • Mihai Tănăsescu (Finance) • Răzvan Theodorescu (Culture) • Miron Mitrea (Public Works and Transport) • Ilie Sârbu/Petre Daea (Agriculture) • Daniela Bartoş/Mircea Beuran/Ionel Blănculescu/Ovidiu Brânzan (Health) • Mircea Geoană (Foreign Affairs) • Dan Ioan Popescu (Economy and Commerce) • Marian Sârbu/Elena Dumitru/Dan Mircea Popescu (Labor) • Dan Nica/Silvia Adriana Ţicău (Communications) • Aurel-Constantin Ilie/Petru Lificiu/Ilie Sârbu/Speranţa Ianculescu (Environment) • Şerban Mihăilescu/Eugen Bejinariu (Coordinating the General Secretariat of the Government) • Ioan Rus/Marian Săniuţă (Interior) • Ecaterina Andronescu/Alexandru Athanasiu (Education) • Hildegard Puwak/Vasile Puşcaş/Alexandru Fărcaş (European Integration) • Vasile Dâncu (Public Information) • Octav Cozmâncă (Public Administration) • Acsinte Gaspar (Relation with Parliament) • Silvia Ciornei (Small and Medium Enterprises) • Georgiu Gingăraş (Youth and Sport) • Dan-Matei Agathon (Tourism)

Minister-Delegates: Gabriel Oprea/Gheorghe Emacu (Public Administration) • Eugen Dijmărescu/Vasile Radu (Commerce) • Acsinte Gaspar/Şerban Nicolae (Relation with Parliament) • Vasile Puşcaş (Chief Negotiator with the EU) • Ovidiu Muşetescu (Authority for Privatization) • Ionel Blănculescu (Coordinating Control Bodies) • Marian Sârbu/Bogdan Niculescu-Duvăz (Relation with Social Partners) • Şerban Valeca (Research Activity)
PDSR/PSD minister PSDR minister (merged into the PSD in 2001) PUR minister