1. Monica Macovei was the Minister of Justice of Romania in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu.
57 Facts About Monica Macovei
1. 2.
Monica Macovei has served as a lecturer in law at the University of Bucharest.
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Monica Macovei has authored a number of books and articles on legal and human rights themes.
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Monica Macovei was a prosecutor between 1983 and 1997, during the Communist and post-Communist periods.
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In 1997, Monica Macovei was an Eisenhower Exchange Fellow, an honor awarded to "men and women of outstanding achievement in mid-career, who are expected to assume positions of influence and make a difference" in their home regions, countries, or globally.
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Monica Macovei conducted research on gender in Romanian law and on violence against women, among many other issues.
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Monica Macovei called attention to police brutality and impunity, continued political influence over the judiciary, and the lack of strong legal culture in Romania, among other issues.
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Monica Macovei represented over 20 plaintiffs before the European Court of Human Rights and trained over 1,000 law enforcement personnel on the rule of law and the European Court of Human Rights.
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Monica Macovei, herself, characterized the arrest as "one of the worst attempts to muzzle the press in Romania" since communism collapsed.
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Monica Macovei was the only Romanian politician to support Bucharest GayFest 2011.
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Monica Macovei was appointed Justice Minister in December 2004, following the surprise victory of then Democratic Party leader Traian Basescu in the second round of presidential elections against Social Democratic Party candidate Adrian Nastase.
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Independent civil society organizations played an important role in securing the victory of the Justice and Truth Alliance, and Monica Macovei's appointment was seen as acknowledgement of this contribution.
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Shortly after her appointment, Monica Macovei stated that "fighting corruption" would be one of the top priorities of the Ministry of Justice under her leadership.
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Monica Macovei disbanded the Justice Ministry's secret service, called the General Directorate for Protection and Anti-Corruption, which had continued operating after the fall of communism.
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Monica Macovei secured passage of legislation to eliminate immunities accorded to former government ministers and other government notables and to make tax evasion a criminal offense.
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Monica Macovei increased the salaries of judges and prosecutors to make them less susceptible to bribes.
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Monica Macovei was credited with invigorating the National Anticorruption Directorate, which had been set up several years before to investigate and prosecute large scale corruption cases and those involving Members of Parliament and other high level officials.
18.
Monica Macovei appointed a new head of the Directorate, prosecutor Dan Morar, under whose leadership the DNA issued an indictment against Chamber of Deputies president and former prime minister Adrian Nastase, the highest level official to face prosecution in a corruption case in the history of post-communist Romania.
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Opposition MPs accused her of abuse of power, while Monica Macovei stated that MPs sought to stop judicial reform and anti-corruption efforts to protect their own interests.
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In 2006, the Parliament initially voted against a measure by Monica Macovei to keep the DNA operating as an independent office.
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Monica Macovei encountered similar resistance in efforts to create a new National Integrity Agency to check the source of MPs and ministers' assets and investigate possible conflicts of interest.
22.
In October 2006, Monica Macovei appointed 33-year-old lawyer Laura Kovesi as Prosecutor General In February 2007, the Romanian Senate Judicial Commission voted to remove the authority of the Minister of Justice to nominate the Prosecutor General.
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Monica Macovei said that the Senate's measure, if approved by the full Parliament, would greatly impede the government's ability to combat corruption as the Prosecutor General is a central figure in that effort.
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Monica Macovei said the proposed reformed code, which included many other changes and had been posted on the Justice Ministry's website for public debate, was necessary for modernizing Romania's legal system and to comply with EU norms.
25.
Monica Macovei said the "Stanoiu Code," if passed by the full Parliament, would bring Romanian penal justice to a halt.
26.
Monica Macovei was supported by the European Commission in the debate, and the Stanoiu Code was not implemented.
27.
The motion accused Monica Macovei of delaying justice reform, intervening in the judicial process, facilitating the release of several criminals, and attacking activities of the Parliament.
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The on-line journal Southeast Europe Times noted that Monica Macovei had several public disputes with judges on the Superior Council of Magistrates, most of whom are associated with the opposition Social Democratic Party that supported the motion.
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Monica Macovei, herself, expressed the view that the Parliament could only be seeking to get rid of her because of her efforts against corruption, including investigations by her ministry against several members of the Senate.
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Monica Macovei stated that the investigations were carried out regardless of political party affiliation.
31.
Monica Macovei received much praise internationally from politicians and the media for the reforms she implemented while Justice Minister.
32.
In 2009, Monica Macovei joined the Democratic Liberal Party, and won an MEP seat on the party's list in that year's European Parliament Elections.
33.
Monica Macovei was re-elected to the European Parliament in 2014 and was part of the European People's Party group before joining the Group of European Conservatives and Reformists in October 2015.
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Monica Macovei signed the motion for a resolution on the EU's efforts to combat corruption and co-signed around 40 other join motions in 2011.
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On 26 September 2012 Monica Macovei won the Parliament Magazine's Justice and civil liberties prize.
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Monica Macovei went beyond EU borders trying to ensure the rule of law, justice and civil liberties are respected in other countries and not some distant hope for the future.
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Since the beginning of 2012, Monica Macovei made six speeches in plenary about human rights violations in countries such as Bahrain and Syria.
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Monica Macovei noted the importance of NATO and EU accession to reform in central and eastern Europe, stating that the best window for enacting reform can be in the period between NATO and EU membership.
39.
Monica Macovei left the European Parliament after the elections 2019.
40.
In 2014, Monica Macovei ran as an independent candidate in Romania's presidential elections, after resigning from the PDL, which was supporting party leader and Sibiu mayor Klaus Iohannis.
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Monica Macovei ran on a platform of anti-corruption and rule-of-law, as well as on her record as Justice Minister and MEP.
42.
Monica Macovei stated that statistics showed that those who voted for her were mostly between 18 and 35 and with higher education.
43.
Monica Macovei endorsed Iohannis, who would go on to win the elections.
44.
On 4 November 2014, following her presidential electoral defeat, Monica Macovei said she would seek to establish a new political party in Romania, which was later called M10.
45.
Monica Macovei was involved in a number of controversies in Romania while Justice Minister, sometimes indirectly.
46.
Media and groups in support of Monica Macovei noted that domestic criticism against her by the local media and Romanian parliament increased markedly after Romania's accession to the EU when politicians no longer worried about implications in Brussels.
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Monica Macovei was on several occasions accused of abuse of power in her position as Minister of Justice.
48.
Monica Macovei fully acknowledged the meeting in the media, as well as her surprise that the Prime Minister had organized the meeting.
49.
Monica Macovei accused Secretary General of the Government Radu Stroe on 14 March 2007 of illegally changing the text of laws between the time they are passed by the Parliament and printed in the official monitor.
50.
Shortly after Monica Macovei became Minister of Justice, some media alleged that a court case concerning the ownership of a house was resolved in an irregular fashion to the advantage of Monica Macovei's mother.
51.
Monica Macovei said that the Romanian government obtained the technology to conduct his type of monitoring with financial support from the US PD President Emil Boc stated on the Romanian talk show Nasul that President Basescu recommended that Monica Macovei pass the emergency ordinances.
52.
Monica Macovei said she had never seen the file but had "nothing to hide" from her time as a prosecutor.
53.
Monica Macovei resigned from the position in 1997 following a conflict with then General Prosecutor Nicolae Cochinescu, who was dismissed by President Constantinescu the same year for allegedly blocking politically sensitive investigations.
54.
Dan Voiculescu, media owner and leader of the Conservative Party, presented in September 2006 what he claimed were several blank search warrants issued and signed by Monica Macovei in 1984 when she was a prosecutor.
55.
Monica Macovei replied that the warrant Voiculescu showed to the press was worthless, as it was neither dated nor registered and therefore never valid.
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Monica Macovei accused Voiculescu of using Securitate-style tactics in making the accusations against her, a clear reference to Voiculescu's own past as a collaborator with the former communist secret police.
57.
Monica Macovei grew up in Bucharest, the only daughter of Vasile Gherghescu and Silvia Gherghescu.