Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of Romania, Liviu Dragnea is also the President of the Social Democratic Party since 2015.
Engineer specialized in Transport, Mr. Dragnea started his career as administrator of private companies. In 1995 he became member of the Social Democratic Party, being elected for the first time in a public office in 1996, as member of the Local Council of the city of Turnu Măgurele.
Mr. Dragnea gained an impressive experience of over 16 years in the local administration. In 1996 he was appointed as Prefect of Teleorman County for a mandate of four years. Since 2000 until 2012 he was the President of the same County Council.
Since 2012, Mr. Dragnea represents Teleorman in the Chamber of Deputies.
In the same year, he was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development and Public Administration, being in office until 2015. During his leadership, the Ministry saw a sharp increase in the absorption of European funds, from 17% to 65%, bringing almost 2 billion Euros in the real economy and developing strategies, criteria and regulation in the field.
The reforms proved so efficient that they were followed by other ministries as examples of good practice. The National Program for Local Development, another landmark reform, whose initiator and coordinator was the Minister, established the legal framework for the implementation of projects of local importance which support regional development.