Background
Melescanu, Teodor Viorel was born on March 10, 1941 in Brad, Romania.
Melescanu, Teodor Viorel was born on March 10, 1941 in Brad, Romania.
Graduate, Law School, University Bucharest, 1964. Postgraduate in international relations, University Bucharest, 1966. Postgraduate in international relations, Institut University Haute Etudes, Geneva, 1970.
Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science, University Geneva, 1973.
He served as Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Romania between 2012 and 2014. He was a three times senator for the National Liberal Party (PNL), Minister of Defense between 2007 and 2008, and Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1992 and 1996, currently holding this office starting November 2014. On February 27, 2012, upon his appointment as head of the FIS, he suspended himself from PNL and was later expelled from the party.
Between 1966 and 1990 he held various diplomatic functions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In August 1990 he was named undersecretary of state in this ministry. In 1996 he campaigned as an independent for election to the Senate from the Prahova County electoral district.
He was elected to that body, becoming president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate of Romania in the 1996-2000 legislature. He was elected president of this party in December 1997 and re-elected in March 2001.
In January 2002, in the wake of the Alliance for Romania"s merger with the PNL, Meleșcanu became first vice-president of the latter party.
Since 2004, he has been a Liberal senator for Prahova, also being a vice-president in the Permanent Bureau of the Senate. He is a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Bucharest, and has written a substantial number of works and scientific publications dealing with international law and diplomacy. On February 27, President Traian Băsescu appointed him for the FIS position vacant after the former director Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu"s ascension to the post of Prime Minister.
In 2013 he was awarded Commander"s Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.
In November 2014, following the resignation of Titus Corlățean as a result of problems with voting in the Romanian diaspora during the first round of that year"s presidential election, Meleșcanu was appointed foreign minister. He resigned eight days later, after similar problems took place during the second round.
After his resignition he joint the advisory board of the Ponta Chancellery regarding security and defense affairs After Ponta was replaced by Dacian Cioloș, he was dismissed and joint ALDE.
In 1973, he obtained a doctorate in political science and international law from the University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute of International Studies. Between November 1992 and November 1996 he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Nicolae Văcăroiu"s Party of Social Democracy (PDSR) government.
In 1997, Meleșcanu founded the Alliance for Romania (Alianța pentru România) party, together with several former members of the PDSR (Mircea Coșea, Iosif Boda, and others). Meleșcanu is a Member of the Advisory Board of the respected Global Panel Foundation, based in Berlin, Copenhagen, Prague, Sydney and Toronto, which works in conflict areas around the world.
Married; one child.