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DE RUEHBM #0220 0781318
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 181318Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8073
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS BUCHAREST 000220 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/NCE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL RO
SUBJECT: DEADLOCK RESOLVED: PRESIDENT AND PM AGREE ON NEW 
JUSTICE MINISTER 
 
¶1. (SBU) In an announcement that caught even his party 
colleagues by surprise, Prime Minister Calin 
Popescu-Tariceanu February 29 nominated Catalin Marian 
Predoiu as the next Justice Minister.  Less than three hours 
later, President Basescu hosted a ceremony to swear in the 
new Justice Minister. During the ceremony, Basescu praised 
the new minister's qualifications and was 
uncharacteristically cordial in his interactions with the 
Prime Minister. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Comment: The fast-track nomination and swearing-in 
of a minister to fill a position vacant for months suggests 
some sort of behind-the-scenes accommodation between the 
rival palaces took place.  President Basescu had been in open 
conflict with Prime Minister Tariceanu over finding a 
candidate to replace the controversial Tudor Chiuariu, who 
resigned in mid-December last year.  Basescu rejected 
Tariceanu's initial nominee for the post PNL Senator Norica 
Nicolai - asserting that Nicolai's oligarch connections and 
past indiscretions made her unfit for the position.  The 
Constitutional Court subsequently affirmed the President's 
right to reject a nominee for a cabinet position.  Tariceanu 
then asked incumbent Defense Minister Theodor Melescanu to 
serve as interim minister on a part-time basis.  However, 
when Tariceanu subsequently proposed that Melescanu take over 
the Justice portfolio permanently, Basescu opposed the 
transfer on the grounds that switching Defense Ministers in 
the run-up to the NATO summit was too disruptive.  In the 
end, Tariceanu appears to have found a candidate who met 
Basescu's initial criteria for the position*-e.g., a 
highly-regarded legal professional with few overt links to 
any political party.  Tariceanu did not consult with top 
party leaders and confronted his colleagues with a fait 
accompli in the Monday March 3 weekly meeting of the party 
leadership.  The PM has been criticized by PNL leaders for 
his decision. Ambassador has scheduled a meeting with the new 
Justice Minister next month after the NATO Summit, and we 
will be reporting additional observations septel. End 
Comment. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Biographic Note: Catalin Predoiu, 39, was born on 
August 27, 1968 in Buzau.  Predoiu has been an associate at 
the Zamfirescu Racoti Predoiu law partnership since 2005, 
specializing in commercial and corporate governance law.  He 
has been a member of the Council of the Bucharest Bar 
Association since 2003.  Until 1995, he worked for the 
Romanian office of Burns Schwartz, and subsequently 
established a legal practice with Ioana Racoti in 1995 in the 
Racoti-Predoiu law house, which later merged with the Calin 
Andrei Zamfirescu and Partners law firm to form Zamfirescu 
Racoti Predoiu.  (Note: The Embassy is familiar with Predoiu 
from his time as legal counsel for the U.S. investor 
Crosslander, which took over Romanian SUV manufacturer Aro 
only to see the company end in bankruptcy following a dispute 
with the privatization authority.) 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Predoiu graduated the Faculty of Law at the 
University of Bucharest in 1991.  In 1994 he completed 
training in commercial law at the Caen Bar in France and in 
2004 received a Ph.D. in the subject.  Between 1994 and 2007 
Predoiu taught commercial law as a lecturer at University of 
Bucharest.  He has published several articles and books about 
commercial law.  In 2006, Predoiu won a World Bank contract 
for Consulting Services for Reforming the section of the 
Civil Code of Romania dealing with Special Contracts. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Predoiu claims that he has no current party 
affiliation, although he acknowledged that he was briefly a 
member in the early 1990s in a splinter group of the National 
Liberal Party called the Youth Wing. (Note: the "Youth Wing" 
was a group of younger Liberals who broke with PNL seniors 
who dominated the party in the 1990s.  They were led by 
now-Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu and 
multimillionaire businessman Dinu Patriciu.) Although 
Predoiu's firm has worked for one of Patriciu's companies, 
Rompetrol, on commercial matters, President Basescu in 
comments made during the swearing-in ceremony made light of 
Predoiu's ties to Rompetrol, remarking only that this 
underscored his qualifications as a high-powered corporate 
lawyer.  End Biographic Note. 
 
TAUBMAN