Sever Voinescu (, full last name Voinescu-Cotoi; Curriculum vitae at the Chamber of Deputies of Romania; retrieved January 9, 2011 "Parchetul ICCJ: Neînceperea urmăririi penale faţă de Roberta Anastase şi Sever Voinescu" , in România Liberă online edition, July 18, 2011; retrieved September 24, 2011 born June 19, 1969) is a Romanian journalist, political analyst, diplomat and right-wing politician. A Foreign Affairs Ministry figure during the mid-1990s, he was later a Consul General of Romania in Chicago, United States. Voinescu became known as a columnist for Dilema Veche weekly and Cotidianul daily, and worked for the Institute for Public Policies, a political think tank. As pundit, Voinescu supports conservative ideas, and criticizes left-wing and welfare state solutions as applied to his country.
Often described as a member of the intellectual faction close to President Traian Băsescu, Voinescu was characterized by political opponents as a person lacking in independence, a verdict which, in 2007, cost him advancement in the diplomatic service. He subsequently joined the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), running in the 2008 legislative election and earning a deputy seat for Ploieşti. From April 2009 to February 2011, he was Secretary of the Deputies' Chamber.
During his time in office, Sever Voinescu became known as a supporter of inner-party reform and pressed for the PDL's transformation into a conservative group, although he is still noted for taking sides against stronger critics of the party line. He also regularly spoke out against media opponents of Băsescu and the PDL, accusing part of the press of being politically controlled by the opposition parties. Voinescu was subsequently involved in several political controversies, including claims that he has used his Chamber position to push for electoral fraud.
Biography
Early life and career Born in Ploieşti, Sever Voinescu stated having grown up in a public housing area, and being a "child of the tower block". Ioana Lupea, Mircea Marian, "Sever Voinescu: 'Trebuie să scăpăm de complexe în politica externă' ", in Evenimentul Zilei, November 24, 2008 Baptized Romanian Orthodox, and identifying himself with liberal Orthodoxy, Sever Voinescu, "Preoţii colaboraţionişti. Ce e de făcut?", in Dilema Veche, Nr. 189, September 2007 he grew up into a supporter of the social and political involvement of religious individuals, and recommends tolerance between believers and non-believers. "Religie şi politică", in Revista 22, Nr. 956, July 2008; Sever Voinescu, "Gînd despre învăţarea religiei", in Dilema Veche, Nr. 328, May–June 2008 Voinescu graduated from the Pedagogic High School's primary school, the Alexandru Ioan Cuza High School's gymnasium, and the Mihai Viteazul National College, while training in parallel with an amateur basketball team. Cine sunt at Sever Voinescu's official site ; retrieved June 10, 2009
A graduate of the University of Bucharest Faculty of Law in 1992, he was a practicing lawyer until 1996. Initially, Voinescu was a trainee lawyer in his native city, but later joined a female colleague in opening a law firm, based in Bucharest. In parallel, he became noted for his cultural and political column in Dilema Veche (known then as just Dilema). His debut, Voinescu recalls, occurred in 1994, and resulted in his "addiction" to writing. According to a presentation for Înapoi la argument, the Romanian Television talk show of philosopher Horia-Roman Patapievici: "Sever Voinescu is one of the distinct voices in Romanian cultural journalism. His writing is in fact a moral attitude from a well-defined perspective, with no conjectural ambiguities." In the political climate following the 1989 Revolution, Voinescu also became active on the public scene, originally as a member of the civil society platform known as Group for Social Dialogue (a membership which, in 2008, he listed as one of the "tidbits in my biography that I take pride in").
Voinescu joined the Bucharest bar association in 1994. In 1995-1997, he was Assistant Professor for the Academy of Economic Studies (ASE) Law Faculty. "Înapoi la argument. Sever Voinescu" , presentation at the Romanian Television site; retrieved December 5, 2008 He had previously given seminar-level classes at the ASE and several private universities. For a while in 1997, some months after the 1996 legislative election, which were won by the right-wing Romanian Democratic Convention (CDR), he was Counselor to the General Secretariat of the Victor Ciorbea government, answering to Remus Opriş. He referred to this point in his career as "an interesting turn", and recounts that the CDR victory had made him "enthusiastic". From 1998 to 2000, during the CDR premierships of Radu Vasile and Mugur Isărescu, Voinescu served as General Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under Ministers Andrei Pleşu and Petre Roman. Voinescu recounts that he accepted the request because it had been voiced by Dilema Veche editor Pleşu, a man whom he calls his "mentor".
Between 2000 and 2003, he was assigned the diplomatic office in Chicago, returning to lead the Institute for Public Policies' Foreign Policies and International Relations Program. He had been relieved from diplomatic office by the new Social Democratic executive of Adrian Năstase, and reflects back on the period: "I left the diplomatic career without a scandal and without regrets." During the following period, Sever Voinescu began contributing a political column to Cotidianul. He also became noted a supporter of America's war on terror, including the Second Iraq War. These sentiments were echoed in his columns for Dilema, and criticized from a Francophile position by academic Roxana Ologeanu. Cronicar, "Revista revistelor" , in România Literară, Nr. 21/2003 Voinescu's articles covered a wide range of subjects, among which reviewers highlight his interventions on the topic of Romanian economy, Cronicar, "Actualitatea" , in România Literară, Nr. 31/2005 his posthumous homage to American literary theorist Susan Sontag, Laszlo Alexandru, "Ce se pierde, atunci cînd nimic nu se mai cîştigă?" , in Tribuna, Nr. 123, October 2007, p.9; Boris Marian, , in Realitatea Evreiască, Nr. 224 (1024), January–February 2005 and his defense of Chalcedonian Christianity against neo-Gnosticism. Cronicar, "Ochiul magic" , in România Literară, Nr. 18/2006
Support for President Băsescu and related controversy Voinescu established himself on the political scene after the 2004 legislative and presidential elections, when the Social Democrats were defeated by the Justice and Truth coalition (DA), which also successfully endorsed Băsescu as President. As DA split into the Democratic Party (later PDL) and the National Liberals, the latter of which unsuccessfully endorsed the anti-Băsescu impeachment referendum of 2007, Voinescu expressed his support for the president. At that time, he joined 49 other intellectuals in signing an open letter addressed to the National Liberal Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu government, questioning its policies and supporting those of the president. Among the other signatories were Patapievici, Adriana Babeţi, Hannelore Baier, Mircea Cărtărescu, Magda Cârneci, Ruxandra Cesereanu, Livius Ciocârlie, Andrei Cornea, Sabina Fati, Florin Gabrea, Sorin Ilieşiu, Gabriel Liiceanu, Mircea Mihăieş, Dan C. Mihăilescu, Virgil Nemoianu, Andrei Oişteanu, Dan Perjovschi, Andrei Pippidi, Şerban Rădulescu-Zoner, Victor Rebengiuc, Dan Tapalagă, Vladimir Tismăneanu, Florin Ţurcanu, Traian Ungureanu and Alexandru Zub. "Scrisoarea celor 50 de intelectuali" , Realitatea TV release, February 7, 2007
Just days before the referendum was carried by the pro-Băsescu option, the president endorsed Sever Voinescu for the office of Romanian Ambassador to the United States. This was coupled with his proposal to have journalist Traian Ungureanu appointed for the similar office in the United Kingdom. Monica Iordache Apostol, "20 de ambasade blocate de Băsescu", in Jurnalul Naţional, June 28, 2007 The proposals were presented to the Senate's Foreign Policy Committee, where Voinescu was rejected with 16 votes to 7. "Sever Voinescu, respins ca ambasador în SUA", in Evenimentul Zilei, April 18, 2007 On the occasion, Social Democratic senator and Committee President Mircea Geoană, himself a former Ambassador to Washington, claimed that Voinescu's support for Băsescu made him a partisan option, and therefore unsuited for the office. In a November 2008 interview with Evenimentul Zilei, Voinescu provided his own take on the event, commenting that the reason presented by the Committee was "purely political", and arguing that: "In that [pre-referendum] context they would have outvoted God himself, had he been supported by Băsescu. I had come forth with a serious program, one I intended to discuss over with the Committee. I was suggesting a number of alternatives as a framework for our future relationship with the USA, but the Committee members were rather more interested in evaluating my activities as a journalist. They couldn't care less about my diplomatic program, but they were heartbroken over what I had published as a political commentator." According to România Liberă newspaper, Voinescu was specifically rejected for the "colums favorable to President Băsescu that he had published in the press." "Candidaţi cu notorietate" , in România Liberă, November 19, 2008
While the Constitution gave Băsescu the power of decision in the matter, his temporary loss of office and replacement with Nicolae Văcăroiu meant that Voinescu's name was no longer an option. In summer 2007, the new Minister, Adrian Cioroianu, was engaged in a lengthy debate with reconfirmed President Băsescu, during which time no new ambassadors were appointed in several world capitals.
Political candidature On July 23, 2008, Voinescu published his final Cotidianul column, announcing that he had agreed to run as a PDL candidate for the Chamber of Deputies in his native Prahova County. This was in view of the 2008 legislative election, the first such suffrage in Romania to be based on mixed member proportional representation and electoral colleges. In that article, Voinescu stated: "I have decided to run [...] in my native city of Ploieşti. The college comprises the neighborhood where I was born, grew up, lived through the first ages of youth and here my parents still live." Sever Voinescu, "La revedere!" , in Cotidianul, July 23, 2008 Commenting on his motivation, Voinescu also wrote: "our politicians are trapped in moral and intellectual darkness which reaches the level of national catastrophe. I enter the arena because I want to bring clarity within the nebula."
In a 2008 interview with Evenimentul Zilei, he elaborated: "There are moments in life when one wants to see if one is capable of doing what he requires others to do." At the same time, he clarified that his choice to rally with the PDL was motivated by the party representing "the authentic Right", and by the National Liberals experiencing "a temporary drift", arguing that he found a post-electoral alliance with the Social Democrats "impossible [and] stinking", whereas the National Liberal Party had the "moral obligation" of joining the PDL in a new coalition. He also pointed out that, although a member of a faction politically allied with Băsescu, he did not intend to placate the latter in his public statements, and criticized his party for resorting to "suspicious borrowings [and] bizarre additions" in order to meet the necessary number of candidates. Believed by Evenimentul Zilei to be the natural choice for a PDL Foreign Minister, he spoke in favor of continuing a close cooperation with the United States, and justified Romania's traditional qualms toward Russia. After joining the party, Voinescu became an Administrative Board member for its think tank, the Institute for People Studies.