Daniel Dăianu


Daniel Dăianu is a Romanian economist, professor and politician. He was a member of the European Parliament between 2007 and 2009, when he represented the National Liberal Party. In June 2014 he was elected a member of the Board of the National Bank of Romania. Between April 2013 and June 2014, Dăianu was first deputy president of the Romanian Financial Supervision Authority. He is a member of the High Level Group on Own Resources of the EU, which is headed by Mario Monti. Dăianu is also a member of the European Council for Foreign Relations, since 2012.
He was the Finance Minister of Romania between December 5, 1997 and September 23, 1998, in the governments of Victor Ciorbea and Radu Vasile. He was dismissed because he refused to endorse a controversial deal with Bell Helicopter Textron to purchase 96 AH-1RO Dracula attack helicopters, in order to help modernize the armed forces. Dăianu considered that terms of the contract were disadvantageous for the Romanian industry and that the deal was too costly for the Romanian budget at that time.
Between 1992 and 1997, Dăianu was the Chief Economist of the National Bank of Romania. In August 2005, he became President of the Supervision Board of Banca Comercială Română, a position previously held by Sebastian Vlădescu and Florin Georgescu, among others. He resigned this post in December 2007, in order to avoid any conflict of interest with his duties as a member of the European Parliament. During 2012-2-13 he was a member of the Board of CEC Bank.
Dăianu was also the President of the European Association for Comparative Economic Studies, between 2002–2004.
Dăianu studied at the Ion Luca Caragiale High School from 1968 to 1971.
In 1975, he obtained a Master in Economics from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest and, in 1988, a Ph.D. in Economics from the same institution. He held a post-doctoral research position at Harvard University's Russian Research Center, during 1990–1991 and attended Harvard Business School's six-week Advanced Management Program in 1994.
Dăianu is also a professor of public finance, at the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration in Bucharest. During different periods, he held research positions at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., the NATO Defense College in Rome, the International Monetary Fund, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris. Between 1999–2004, he was a professor at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, at the University of California, Berkeley, at the University of California, Los Angeles, and at the University of Bologna.
During Nicolae Ceauşescu's communist regime, he worked for the Securitate's Foreign Intelligence Unit, between 1976 and September 1978. He left DIE in 1978, of his own volition and he became known, in the following decade, for his writings against Ceauşescu's economic policy, which were highlighted on Radio Free Europe at the time. In September 2007, the National Council for Analyzing the State Security Department Files decided that Daniel Dăianu had worked for the External Intelligence Unit solely on economic issues.
Between 1979 and 1990, he was a researcher at the Economic Socialist Institute.
Daniel Dăianu was elected a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy since 2001. He was upgraded to titular member in 2013.
He has written several books and his columns have appeared in Ziarul Financiar, Piaţa Financiară, Bursa, Southeast European Times European Voice. "Les Echos", Europe's World, World Commerce Review.
In October 2008, Dăianu took position against European banks that receive state aids to get out of the crisis, yet damage emerging European economies through speculation against national currencies.
He was co-rapporteur of the report "Lamfalussy follow-up: Future Structure of Supervision", for the European Parliament.
On May 22, 2008, Daniel Dăianu, together with three former Presidents of the European Commission, nine former Prime Ministers of EU member states and six former Finance / Economy Ministers, co-signed an article with title "Financial Markets Cannot Govern Us" in "Le Monde", in which they anticipated the extent of the economic crisis and talked about its causes.
During the presidential elections of 2009, he was touted as one of possible prime ministers.
Daniel Dăianu was invited to be a fellow of the Warsaw-based Center for Social and Economic Research, in 2010.

Selected writings

His most recent co-edited volume is "The Crisis of the Eurozone. The Future of Europe", Palgrave Macmillan, 2014