On February 11, James Carafano, Senior Counselor to the President of the Heritage Foundation, and Glen Howard, President of The Saratoga Foundation co-hosted an off-the-record discussion to discuss Russian malign interference in the recent Romanian election that undermined the internal stability of a key NATO ally in the Balkans and Black Sea.
On December 9, 2024, Romania experienced a major subversion campaign involving Russian malign interference that affected the first round of the Romanian presidential election. Romania's constitutional court later annulled the first round of those elections as the Romanian government officials traced the source of that interference back to Russia. Earlier this week, the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, resigned from office, creating further election uncertainty as Romania investigates the source of Russian malign influence and the country prepares for a new round of Presidential elections.
Joining us to discuss these events and to assess Russian interference were Romania’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs Marian-Cătălin Predoiu, and former US Ambassador to Romania Adrian Zuckerman. Minister Predoiu shed light on the various innovative techniques used by Moscow in its new information warfare campaign against Romania as we examined how these developments would affect the future of Romanian democracy.
About the Speakers:
Deputy Prime Minister, Catalin Marian Predoiu
Catalin Marian Predoiu is the Deputy Prime Minister of Romania and the current Minister of Interior. He previously served as a former Minister of Justice in the Tăriceanu Government starting on February 29, 2008, in the Boc Government from December 22, 2008, to 27 April 27, 2012, as well as in the Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu Government, from February 9, 2012 to May 7, 2012.
During the period between the resignation of Prime Minister Emil Boc on 6 February 2012 and the inauguration of the Ungureanu Government on 9 February 2012, he also served as interim Prime Minister. He was also the interim Minister of Foreign Affairs from October 1, 2009 to 23 December 23, 2009.
From November 2019 to December 2020 and from November 2021 to June 2023 he served as Minister of Justice in the governments of Ludovic Orban and Nicolae Ciucă . Since 15 June 2023 he has been Minister of the Interior in the Government of Marcel Ciolacu. He is the only minister to have been kept in office in five consecutive governments.
He has a Ph.D. in Law and graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Bucharest in 2003.
Ambassador Adrian Zuckerman
Ambassador Zuckerman is a New York real estate and corporate attorney and is a member of The Saratoga Foundation Advisory Board. He is currently of Counsel to DLA Piper, and advises multinational corporations on legal, regulatory, and governmental affairs as they expand into emerging markets in Eastern Europe and around the world. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Romania from 2019 to 2021.
Under his leadership Romania signed a ten-year defense cooperation agreement with the United States that provided financial, military and strategic support and cooperation. He also advanced and helped structure an intergovernmental agreement between the US and Romania for the $8 billion refurbishment of the Cernavoda nuclear plant. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis awarded Ambassador Zuckerman Romania's highest civilian award, the Star of Romania, Order of the Grand Cross.
Thank you for your support! Please remember that The Saratoga Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Your donations are fully tax-deductible. If you seek to support The Saratoga Foundation, you can make a one-time donation by clicking on the PayPal link below!
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=XFCZDX6YVTVKA
Share this post