19 Facts About Gabriel Oprea

Gabriel Oprea was born in Fundulea, Calarasi County and in 1980 entered the Active Officers' Military School in Sibiu, graduating as an officer in 1983.

Gabriel Oprea finished a course in national security at the Carol I National Defence University in 1997.

Gabriel Oprea has authored and co-authored a number of books and chapters since 2001.

In 2015, an allegation of plagiarism was lodged against Gabriel Oprea with regard to his thesis; he responded that the source of the complaint was an individual he had fired and who was pursuing a vendetta.

Gabriel Oprea's party responded by accusing him of defamation and threatening a lawsuit.

Additionally, journalists asserted that three doctoral theses supervised by Gabriel Oprea were themselves affected by plagiarism.

Gabriel Oprea served in the Romanian Land Forces from 1983 to 1990, and in 1990 worked in the military law.

In 2000, Gabriel Oprea was made a knight of the Order of the Star of Romania, and the following year attained the same rank in the National Order for Faithful Service.

Gabriel Oprea reached the rank of three-start lieutenant general in the reserves in 2008.

In 2003, Gabriel Oprea joined the PSD, and aside from serving in the Nastase government, he became president of the party's Ilfov County branch in 2004 and of its defence policy department in 2006.

Gabriel Oprea announced his priorities as minister to be security for citizens, in particular the maintenance of order in large cities; decentralisation combined with a strengthening of local institutions; and for Romania to join the Schengen Area by 2011.

However, he quickly ran into political difficulties when a scandal erupted within the party regarding the state secretaries and departmental directors Gabriel Oprea had named to posts within the ministry; particularly controversial was the appointment of Virgil Ardelean to head the General Directorate for Internal Information and Protection.

However, some defended Gabriel Oprea, saying he had acted within his legal prerogatives and that it was not Ardelean and the other appointees they objected to, but the fact that they could not place their own supporters in the positions Gabriel Oprea filled.

Gabriel Oprea served until May 2012, including, during the last phase, under Mihai Razvan Ungureanu.

At that point, incoming prime minister Victor Ponta, despite having criticized UNPR members as "traitors" and "undercover officers", reached an agreement with Gabriel Oprea, who provided parliamentary support to the new government.

In January 2014, following the resignation of Radu Stroe, Gabriel Oprea returned as Interior Minister on an interim basis, and on a permanent one after Ponta formed a new government in March.

In June 2015, with Ponta out of the country for knee surgery, Gabriel Oprea became interim prime minister, serving until Ponta returned early the following month.

Shortly after Ponta's resignation in November 2015, Gabriel Oprea too quit the government.

Gabriel Oprea ran as an independent for a Chamber seat at the 2020 election; his 796 votes were well below what was needed for victory.