Petre Roman

Petre Roman was born in Bucharest. His father, Valter Roman, born Ernst or Ernő Neuländer of Transylvanian Hungarian-Jewish descent,[2] was a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, a Comintern activist, and a prominent member of the Romanian Communist Party. His mother Hortensia Vallejo was a Spaniard exiled who would become director of the Spanish section of Radio Romania International.[3] The couple married in Moscow, and he has several siblings. In 1974 Roman married Mioara Georgescu, with whom he has a daughter, Oana. In February 2007, husband and wife confirmed that they were divorcing; the divorce was made final on Good Friday, 6 April 2007. In June 2009, he married a pregnant Silvia Chifiriuc (who is 26 years his junior) in a Romanian Orthodox wedding.[4]

Roman first rose to prominence during the Romanian Revolution of 1989, when he was among the crowd occupying the National Television building, and broadcasting messages expressing revolutionary triumph. He became provisional prime minister after the overthrow of the Communist regime, and was confirmed in office in June 1990, three months after the country's first free election in 53 years.

Petre Roman was heavily involved in the revolution as a member of the National Salvation Front as both a revolutionary and as a leading political figure during the revolution. Given that the revolution was led by politicians united not by a cohesive ideology, but by resentment for the Ceaușescu regime, in-fighting soon began, especially between its leaders, namely, centre-left liberal Dumitru Mazilu, who wished to instill capitalism, and far-left Communist Ion Iliescu, who wanted to keep communism but remove Ceaușescu. As a left-wing socialist, Petre Roman was largely the middle ground between the world-views of his colleagues, as he wanted to replace communism with socialism.

Revolutionary activity

Petre Roman speaking to the crowd in Bucharest

Petre Roman participated directly in the revolution forming a barricade in the centre of Bucharest from the days of 21 and 22 December. On 22 December 1989 Petre Roman spoke from the balcony of the headquarters of the Central Committee against the Ceaușescu regime, the first public demonstration of its kind. On 22 December, he became a member of the Provisional Council of National Salvation Front (CPFSN) established for the coordination of the revolutionary process and the establishment of democracy once the revolution had concluded.

Prime Minister

Roman (right) with FSN members Ion Iliescu (centre) and Dumitru Mazilu (left) on 23 December 1989, one day after the formation of the FSN.

On 26 December 1989, Roman was appointed as provisional Prime Minister of the provisional FSN government. At the 20 May 1990 elections–the first free elections held in the country in 53 years–he was elected as a deputy from Bucharest on the FSN list. Iliescu designated him once more as Prime Minister on 20 June. He was formally confirmed in office by the newly elected parliament on 28 June, and his governing program was approved unanimously.

• Official site at the Wayback Machine (archived 25 January 2007) (site down as of 12 November 2008)
• fragments from Petre Roman's book "Libertatea ca datorie", ed. Dacia- Cluj, 1994