Klaus Iohannis

Klaus Iohannis     (politician)
Born	Klaus Werner Johannis 13 June 1959 Sibiu, Romania
Alma mater	Babeș-Bolyai University
Religion	Lutheran
Spouse	Carmen Lăzurcă
Member of	Atlantic Council/Distinguished Leadership Awards
Party	Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania, National Liberal Party, Independent
German-Romanian politician who became president of Romania.  President of Romania In office 21 December 2014 - Present Preceded by Traian Băsescu  Leader of the National Liberal Party In office 28 June 2014 - 18 December 2014  Leader of the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania In office 2002 - 2013  Mayor of Sibiu In office 30 June 2000 - 2 December 2014

Klaus Werner Iohannis (also spelled Johannis) is a Romanian politician of German heritage who has been the president of Romania since 2014.

Career

He was first elected the mayor of the Romanian town of Sibiu, Transylvania in 2000, on behalf of the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (FDGR/DFDR). Although the German (more specifically Transylvanian Saxon) population of the once predominantly German-speaking town of Sibiu had declined to a tiny minority by the early 2000s, he won a surprise victory and was re-elected by landslides in 2004, 2008, and 2012.

In October 2009, four of the five political groups in the Parliament, excluding the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) of then President Traian Băsescu, proposed him as a candidate for the office of Prime Minister of Romania; however, Băsescu refused to nominate him despite the Parliament's adoption of a declaration supporting his candidacy. He was again the candidate for Prime Minister of the PNL and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) in the elections in the same year. In February 2013, He became a member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), accepting an invitation from then liberal leader Crin Antonescu, and was immediately elected the party's first vice-president, eventually becoming the PNL president during the following year.

Johannis, who is considered a follower of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, was elected Romanian president at the end of 2014. The most important opponent was the then Prime Minister Victor Ponta of the PSD. A year later, Ponta resigned as prime minister after a wave of violent protests. Johannis took advantage of Ponta's resignation to install a "technocrat" government under the "non-partisan" former EU Commissioner Dacian Cioloș. Cioloș had never been part of any political party and had never held elected office.

The new government was dominated by people picked from NGOs financed by George Soros' Open Society Foundations. Johannis also created a Ministry for Public Consultation and Social Dialogue, to coordinated with NGOs.

In 2014, Johannis advocated for tougher sanctions against [[Russia], blaming President Putin for the situation in Ukraine. In an interview before a meeting with Angela Merkel, Johannis called for a stronger NATO presence in Romania and the entire Black Sea region. "Romania does not feel threatened militarily, and we do not expect the conflict to spill over to Romania, but we want to be prepared for all developments. This means that it will need the support of NATO."

Iohannis was re-elected in 2019.

[[Display born on::13 June 1959| ]] 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Munich Security Conference/2016	12 February 2016	14 February 2016	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 52nd Munich Security Conference
Munich Security Conference/2019	15 February 2019	17 February 2019	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 55th Munich Security Conference, which included "A Spreading Plague" aimed at "identifying gaps and making recommendations to improve the global system for responding to deliberate, high consequence biological events."

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.