Adriean Marian Videanu (; born 1 June 1962) is a businessman and former mayor of Bucharest, Romania. He is also a vice president of the Democratic Liberal Party of Romania, which was led by Emil Boc and the Minister of Economy in the Boc Cabinet, since 22 December 2008.
A businessman in the marble and granite industry, Videanu was elected mayor in early April 2005, gathering 53.01% of the Bucharest electorate's vote, but the turnout was the lowest since 1989, with only 24.83% of the voters turning up.
Starting with 2008 Videanu is under corruption investigation regarding a business with raw materials for constructions (i.e. curbstones). His own companies were involved in the scandalous affair of the "curbstonization" of the Romanian capital city, Bucharest. Many streets from Romanian capital were paved with new curbstones imported from China during the period of 2006–2008. The traffic was severely disturbed, dissatisfying Bucharest inhabitants. According to some preliminary data Videanu's companies obtained illegally 4 million euros from state funds.http://www.gandul.info/actualitatea/bordurile-lui-videanu-dosar-greu-la-dna.html?3927;2443549
On 29 January 2015 he was arrested for new corruption allegations.
He and his wife Mioriţa have two children, Andrei-Valentin and Diana-Alexandra.
Family origins and studies Adriean Videanu comes from a family of wealthy farmers from the area of Videle, Teleorman. He has two brothers: Marian, born in 1958, international transports driver and Fănel, born in 1968, graduate from AES and PhD in economics.
In 1981, Adriean Videanu graduated from the High School of Mathematics - Physics no. 4 from Măgurele, near Bucharest. In the same year, he was admitted to the Faculty of Transport within the Bucharest Polytechnic, Department of Road Vehicles (AR), which he graduated in 1987. He performed a military service in a tank unit in Lipova (Arad County).
During the high school and college, he practiced volleyball for professionals (division B) and football for the Petrolul Videle team (division C) where he played 3 seasons.
Private life Adriean Videanu has been married since 1987 to Mioara Videanu, born on August 12, 1963, in the commune of Grosu, Teleorman and graduated from the Academy of Economic Studies (AES) in Bucharest, with whom he was a childhood friend. Adriean and Mioara Videanu have two children: Andrei Valentin, born in 1990 and Diana Alexandra, born in 1992. Andrei Videanu was admitted in 2009 to George Washington University (GWU) in the US, where he studies economics. Diana Videanu was accepted in 2012 at the University College of London (UCL) in the United Kingdom, Department of Science & Innovation. The Videanu couple have lived in Bucharest since 1987.
Professional Activity before 1990 In 1987, after graduating from college, Adriean Videanu obtained an assignment as an engineer within the I.T.A.U. (Light Car Transport Company), a logistics unit within the structure of the General Petroleum Special Construction Constructions Trust (T.A.G.C.S.P.) Ploiești, where he worked by 1990. During these three years he travelled from Bucharest to the workplace. At that time under the Ministry of Petrochemical Industry, the T.A.G.C.S.P. was the most important Romanian construction and logistics company with specialized activities in the field of energy, especially oil and gas. Adriean Videanu became the head of the Transport department, then, the head of the local section of the Equipment and Transport Station (S.U.T.) within the T.A.G.C.S.P and was in this position at the time of the events of December 1989.
Political Activity Political Start In the spring of 1990, the National Salvation Front (NSF) has been prepared for parliamentary elections and looked for the young people with a university background and local notoriety. Cazimir Ionescu, the vice-president of NSF and of the Provisional Council of National Union (PCNU), responsible for Teleorman county, has address the related request to Adriean Videanu, known and appreciated locally especially for his football activity. At the age of 27, Adriean Videanu agreed to enter politics and was running for the first time as an MP on the NSF lists.
The founder member of the Democratic Party (DP) During 1991, there were divergences within NSF between the wing that supports the acceleration of economic reforms, grouped around Prime Minister Petre Roman, and the one that militates for the extension of the state sector's presence in the economy, whose unofficial leader was President Ion Iliescu. Adriean Videanu was close to the first group and participated in March 1992 in the National Convention that enshrines the split between the two parties, following the fall of the Romanian government.
At the NSF Extraordinary National Convention of May 1993, the change of name of the NSF party to the Democratic Party (PD)was approved, Adriean Videanu was appointed the president of the youth organization and the party spokesman, positions he holds by 1996.
In 1996, he rose to the second echelon of the party, as secretary of the Executive Bureau, a body that became in 1997 NPB (National Political Bureau). During the governing of the CDR alliance where the Democratic Party was a part, Adriean Videanu was responsible for the party's image problems and relations with the press.
At the National Convention of the DP of February 2000, the same leadership was maintained around Petre Roman, categorized as a "club of barons", strongly used in polls due to his participation in the government. Adriean Videanu was reconfirmed as the executive secretary of NPB.
In July 2000, after Traian Băsescu's victory at the local elections in Bucharest, he became the coordinator of the DP Bucharest organization, which remained without a leader after the resignation of Nicolae Staiculescu. At the Extraordinary National Convention of the DP in May 2001, Petre Roman was replaced by Traian Băsescu.
In the new NPB elected in June 2001, Adriean Videanu was elected as a vice president in the first round, responsible for the party's image. From this moment, he became one of the most important leaders of the DP, representative of the new generation that came to power with Traian Băsescu.
In June 2005, after his name was circulated in the press for the DP leadership, the position finally belonged to Emil Boc, and Adriean Videanu became the executive president, a position he held by 2007, when the party merged with the Liberal Democratic Party led by Theodor Stolojan and the DP-L was created. Following this change, Adriean Videanu was elected the first vice-president of DP-L together with Theodor Stolojan, a position he held by May 2011, when he decided not to run and retired from the party leadership.
Coordinating the governance program of the DA alliance and promoting the single quota During the campaign of the summer and autumn of 2004, Adriean Videanu was the coordinator of the governing program of the DA alliance from the DP. He was responsible for promoting it within the alliance and in the public space. The best-known measure of this program is the single tax rate of 16%.
In the fall of 2004, Adriean Videanu's name was circulated in the press and by some alliance leaders as the main option for the post of prime minister. In the formula initially negotiated, in case of victory, PNL was to propose the president, and DP the prime minister.
The MP of Teleorman in 5 legislatures At the elections of May 20, 1990, Adriean Videanu was elected for the first time as the MP of Teleorman, from NSF.
At the elections of September 27, 1992, NFS for this time was formed a group around Petre Roman, obtained about 10% of the votes and entered the opposition. Adriean Videanu has won his second term as an MP for Teleorman. He became a member of the Committee on Budget, Finance and Banking of the Chamber of Deputies, where he collaborated with specialists such as Florin Georgescu or Florian Bercea, specializing in the field of macroeconomic and budgetary strategy.
At the Parliamentary elections of November 1996, Adriean Videanu was re-elected, this time by the Social-Democratic Union, an alliance created in 1995 around the DP. He worked in the finance committee of the Chamber of MPs. In March 2000, he was appointed as a secretary of the SRI control commission in the Chamber of Deputies of the DP.
At the parliamentary elections of November 2000, Adriean Videanu obtained the 4th consecutive term as deputy of Teleorman on the DP lists. He was elected as the vice-president of the finance budget commission of the Chamber of Deputies together with Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu from PNL, the president being the PSD deputy, Florin Georgescu.
As the vice-president of this commission, Adriean Videanu supported the tax relaxation and the increase of the added value in the export of Romanian products as well as the identification and encouragement of those sectors where Romania has real advantages.
In May 2003, he resigned from the Parliament, being according to the press the first MP who took this decision as a result of the adoption of the Law of incompatibility between the elective functions and those of director of companies. He was replaced by his deputy, Alexandru Mocanu. Re-elected deputy of Teleorman from the DP in November 2004, Adriean Videanu resigned after 2 months in the Parliament, following the appointment as deputy prime minister in the Tariceanu government, in which he was responsible for carrying out of the economic program.
The feedback of Traian Băsescu At the local elections of June 2000, Adriean Videanu was one of the main organizers together with Liviu Negoiță and Vasile Blaga of Traian Băsescu's victorious campaign for the General City Hall of the Capital. He worked closely on the motion "Strong Romania - Social-Democratic Romania" with which Traian Băsescu won the Convention of May 2001, becoming the president of the PD. He was one of the 5 members who supported him in front of the general assembly of the party. During this period, Adriean Videanu was considered by the press as one of the main supporters of Traian Băsescu, a prominent member of the "young guard" promoted by the new president.
In his public speeches, Adriean Videanu supported the strategy of firm opposition launched by Traian Băsescu in 2001 against the PSDR government from 2000 to 2004. He became one of the main leaders and communicators of the party, which led, according to some press sources, to a cooling of the relationship with President Traian Băsescu, starting with 2002: “Adriean Videanu started to grow in the party after the elections of 2000, with the arrival of Traian Băsescu to the DP leadership. His political evolution was in line with the strategy of the current head of state, which also led to a cooling of relations between the two. For a start, Videanu, responsible for the image and spokesman of the DP, had a deleted performance compared to his duties, because the message of force was transmitted by the party president.” Thus, in July 2002, Adriean Videanu even had an attempt to withdraw from the party leadership.
During the campaign in 2004 for the general elections, Traian Băsescu publicly appreciated his success as an industrialist and businessman, and his experience in the real economy and international markets, which was interpreted by some media as a sign that Adriean Videanu would be at the DP's proposal a prime minister in case of victory. Finally, the PNL returned to the post of prime minister, and Adriean Videanu was appointed as a deputy prime minister and the minister of state responsible for economic activities.