Klaus Iohannis – Romania’s New President. East Side Story (I)

On Sunday, December 21, 2014 Klaus Iohannis is to take over the office of President of Romania from outgoing head of state Traian Basescu. Let’s find out a little bit more about the former Sibiu mayor.

Klaus Werner Iohannis was born June 13, 195. He is a Romanian politician and, as of elections on 16 November 2014, the President-elect of Romania. Likewise, he is the first Romanian president to come from an ethnic minority. He became leader of the National Liberal Party in 2014, after having served as leader of the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania from 2002 to 2013. Iohannis was a physics teacher and a school inspector before entering full-time politics.

Iohannis was first elected mayor of the city of Sibiu in 2000, representing the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania. Although the German population of the once predominantly German-speaking city of Sibiu has declined to a tiny minority, Iohannis won a surprise victory and was re-elected by landslides in 2004, 2008 and 2012. Iohannis is credited with turning his city into one of Romania’s most popular tourist destinations, and the city was declared the European Capital of Culture in 2007. In February 2013, Iohannis became a member of the National Liberal Party, accepting an invitation from Liberal leader Crin Antonescu, and was immediately elected the party’s First Vice President, becoming the party’s President the following year.

In October 2009, four of the five political groups in the Parliament, excluding the Democrat Liberal Party of then-President Traian Basescu, proposed him as a candidate for the office of Prime Minister of Romania; President Basescu 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 National Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party (the Social-liberal Union) in the elections in the same year. (Wikipedia)

Iohannis’s real political career started in 2013, when he joined the national Liberal Party (PNL).

Just days before the National Liberal Party (PNL) congress on 23rd-24th February 2013, liberal leader Crin Antonescu announced an extraordinary press conference. Total surprise, as the conference registered the announcement that the mayor of Sibiu, Klaus Iohannis, has joined PNL. Furthermore, as the congress was to confirm, Iohannis would be elected (through an exception from the party statute) first-vice-president of the party.

“Today’s announcement is a simple one, starting today I am member of the PNL,” Klaus Iohannis bluntly stated. “I have decided to become a PNL member upon the invitation sent by President Crin Antonescu,” Iohannis further said, adding that he has chosen the moment as there are no electoral stakes at the moment, the elections are over.

The congress sealed a total victory for Crin Antonescu, as he was overwhelmingly reelected party president, while the inside opposition represented by Tariceanu-Chiliman-Orban was marginalized. The PNL senators’ leader at the time, Puiu Hasotti, supported Iohannis joining the party: “Klaus Iohannis is one of the best performing mayors in Romania,” he said.

Voices less enthusiastic about the Iohannis move were silenced and Klaus Iohannis was elected first-vice-president, topping the other 31 vice-presidents of PNL.

Let’s recall that, at the time, PNL was part of the Social-liberal Union (USL) ruling coalition. According to the union’s objectives, they were to fight the incumbent President Traian Basescu and his allied parties. The bilateral protocol foresaw that Crin Antonescu was to run for president in 2014, while Social-democrat leader Victor Ponta was to take care of the government. Later disputes between the two and the results of the local elections have led to the split of USL. The Social-Democratic Party (PSD) appointed Ponta to run on its behalf for presidency at elections held in November 2014.

On March 4, 2014, liberal leader Crin Antonescu resigned from the position of Senate Speaker. Later on, on May 26 he also resigned as PNL president, being under criticism for poor European elections results and for moving PNL from ALDE group in the European Parliament to European People’s Party (EPP). In June 2014 Klaus Iohannis was elected PNL president and later on he received mandate to run for presidency on behalf of the liberal party. According to a bilateral protocol, PNL merged with former foes PDL (democrat-liberal party) to support Iohannis.

Klaus Iohannis won the elections against social-democrat Victor Ponta in the runoff on November 16 by some 55 to 45 percent of cast votes, following a huge scandal regarding the votes in Diaspora.

It is said one of the reasons for which Iohannis was voted by Romanians is that Romanians have in general a good appreciation of German ethnics, considered to be industrious, thrifty and good organizers. The same feeling is shared for Germans. The stand comes from the modern history regarding monarchy in Romania. King Carol I, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, was brought in Romania in 1866, first as ruler, later on becoming king by 1881. He is considered the artisan of Romania’s independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877 and the builder of modern Romania. His successor to throne, King Ferdinand I, was also an emblematic character of the monarchy, under his rule all Romanian provinces got united in 1918, at the end of WWI.

Klaus Iohannis was mayor of the Transylvanian city of Sibiu for four mandates, is an appreciated person and politician. If one takes into account that the German minority in Sibiu counts just several percentage points, it becomes clear that the huge proportion of votes up to 70-80 per cent for Iohannis were coming from Romanians. Klaus Iohannis is a determined man, unprepared for concessions and is an unconformable character for political foes and even for his political colleagues.

Klaus Iohannis – biography, political involvement

Klaus Werner Iohannis was born on 13^th January 1959 at Sibiu (Hermanstadt in German language). He is German ethnic – the Saxons arrived in Transylvania in the 12^th century, when this historical region was part of the Hungarian Kingdom. He is physics teacher. Iohannis has graduated the Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Physics, in 1983. He had worked as physics teacher in several school units in Sibiu, then he was promoted as deputy general inspector (1997-1999) and general inspector of Sibiu County (1999-2000) until being elected as mayor of Sibiu. Mayor of Sibiu starting 2000, on behalf of the German Democratic Forum in Romania (FDGR). He turned Sibiu into a tourism attraction, especially after the city had been chosen as the European Cultural Capital in 2007. He speaks fluently German, Romanian and English. Iohannis got married in 1989 with Carmen Iohannis, has no children. He is a member of the Lutheran Evangelical Church of Augsburg confession in Romania, the Lutheran Church of German language in Transylvania.

Iohannis had been a member of FDGR from the very beginning (1990), he was elected as FDGR president in 2001. He resigned from the top office after joining PNL in February 2012. FDGR president was elected Paul Jurgen Porr, Iohannis’s son in law. He entered politics in 2000 as FDGR decided to have its own candidate for the city hall and win sets of local counselors. The relationship between Iohannis and president Traian Basescu and PDL was a good one starting with 2004. In 2007, when Sibiu was chosen European Cultural Capital, the relationship became even closer, as the head of state paid several visits to Sibiu. Before the 2008 general elections the good relations were disturbed after Daniel Thelman, the mayor of the city of Medias, left FDGR to run on PDL lists, winning a new mandate.

After the fall of Emil Boc (democrat-liberal) cabinet in October 2009, the then opposition made up of PSD, PC, UDMR, PNL and national minorities proposed and supported Klaus Iohannis for prime-minister. He was supposed to form a new technocrat government to deal with current issues and organize presidential elections. However, president Traian Basescu proposed Lucian Croitoru for premier. Croitoru did not receive the confidence vote in parliament.

 (to be continued)