Mugur Isărescu

Acad Constantin Mugur Isărescu Grand Cross and Sash ranks of the Order of the Star of Romania
Prime Minister of Romania
In office 16 December 1999 – 28 December 2000
President	Emil Constantinescu Ion Iliescu
Preceded by	Alexandru Athanasiu (Acting)
Succeeded by	Adrian Năstase
Governor of the National Bank of Romania
In office September 1990 - 1994 1994 - 1998 1998 – 22 December 1999
Preceded by	Decebal Urdea
Succeeded by	Eugen Ghizari (ad interim)
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 December 2000 - 10 October 2004 10 October 2004 - 6 October 2009 6 October 2009
Preceded by	Eugen Ghizari (ad interim)
Personal details
Born	1 August 1949 (1949-08-01) (age 62) Drăgăşani, Romania
Political party	Independent
Alma mater	Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies

Mugur Isărescu (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈmuɡur isəˈresku]; born 1 August 1949) is the Governor of the National Bank of Romania. From 22 December 1999 to 28 November 2000 he served as Prime Minister. He is a member of the Romanian Academy.

Born in Drăgăşani, Vâlcea County, he graduated in 1971 from the Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest. For the next 19 years, he worked for the Institute of International Economics.

After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, he worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then for the Romanian Embassy in the United States. In September 1990 he became Governor of the National Bank of Romania, a position that he has retained since (except for the short period when he served as Prime Minister).

On 16 December 1999 Isărescu was sworn in as Prime Minister of Romania, but only for about a year, since in November 2000, the ruling coalition lost the elections.

In November 2000 Isărescu ran for President of Romania but was soundly defeated, coming in fourth place and receiving 9% of the vote.

Thereafter, he returned to the National Bank of Romania for another term as Governor.

Although he served only one year as Prime Minister, Isărescu is considered^{[by whom?]} to have started the reform process, continued later by Adrian Năstase and Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu. During his premiership, on February 15, 2000, Romania formally initiated negotiations with the European Union (a process started by the Romanian application in 1995 and European Commission approval on October 13, 1999^[1]). As governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isărescu has coordinated Romania's economic policy since 1990, being considered by some^{[by whom?]} the hidden Prime Minister of the country.

Isărescu managed in 15 years of leadership at the National Bank of Romania to create and maintain a mysterious aura around the policies of the National Bank^{[dubious – discuss]}, and many^[who?] pointed out that the agenda of the Bank remained independent from any Romanian Government. Many^[who?] credit the National Bank team for saving Romania's economy from a Bulgarian-type collapse, raising the national gold and Euro reserves beyond needs, cutting down inflation to single-digit figures and introducing the New Leu.

He is a member of the Club of Rome, the Trilateral Commission and a Grand Cross and Sash ranks of the Order of the Star of Romania recipient.

In 2009, World Records Academy named him as the person with the longest head of a central bank.^[2]

References

1. ^ http://ue.mae.ro/index.php?lang=en&id=351
2. ^ http://www.evz.ro/detalii/stiri/isarescu-a-intrat-in-cartea-recordurilor-859477.html

• Parliament Decision for 2004-2009 Administration Council
• Current Administration Council

Political offices
Preceded by Alexandru Athanasiu Acting	Prime Minister of Romania 1999–2000	Succeeded by Adrian Năstase
Political offices
Preceded by Decebal Urdea	Governor of the National Bank of Romania 1990–1999	Succeeded by Eugen Ghizari Acting
Political offices
Preceded by Eugen Ghizari Acting	Governor of the National Bank of Romania 2000–present	Succeeded by incumbent

Persondata
Name	Isarescu, Mugur
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 August 1949
Place of birth	Drăgăşani, Romania
Date of death
Place of death