University Dean Sworn In As Research Minister

"Gheorghe Asachi" University dean Nicolae Hurduc was sworn in as Romania’s new research minister at the Bucharest’s Presidential Palace on Monday, following a two-month interim served by Deputy Prime Minister Viorel Stefan.

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The minister made took the oath of office on Monday, in the presence of President Klaus Iohannis, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici, European Funds Minister Rovana Plumb and Health Minister Sorana Pintea.

The co-leaders of Romania’s ruling coalition, social-democrat chairman Liviu Dragnea and ALDE leader Calin Popescu Tariceanu, did not take part in the ceremony.

The president appointed Nicolae Hurduc for the office on Friday, at the proposal of Prime Minister Viorica Dancila, nearly two months after it was vacated by former minister Nicolae Burnete.

The prime minister initially announced on Thursday that she proposed Hurduc, a faculty dean within the “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, for the vacant office of research minister.

Nicolae Hurduc, aged 62, is a chemical engineer and the current dean of the Chemical Engineering and Environmental Protection Faculty within the “Gheorghe Asachi” University, where he works as a professor since 2001.

He is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry since 2015 and published more than 165 scientific articles during his career. Between 2012 and 2016, he served as chairman of the Chemistry Commission within Romania’s national agency for attesting university certifications, CNATDCU.

In an interview for the local newspaper Ziarul de Iasi in September 2018, Hurduc stated that he “finds it hard to believe” in Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory, instead declaring himself interested in a “parallel world theory”, according to which humans originate from a “parallel world in the future”.

The Research Ministry was led by Deputy Prime Minister Viorel Stefan on an interim term since September, after previous minister Nicolae Burnete resigned in late August, without providing an explanation for the decision.

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