Nicolae Ciucă

Nicolae Ciucă
Official portrait, 2021
President of the Senate of Romania
In office
13 June 2023  23 December 2024
Preceded byAlina Gorghiu (acting)
Succeeded byIlie Bolojan
Prime Minister of Romania
In office
25 November 2021  12 June 2023
PresidentKlaus Iohannis
DeputyHunor Kelemen
Sorin Grindeanu
Preceded byFlorin Cîțu
Succeeded byCătălin Predoiu (acting)
Marcel Ciolacu
Acting
7 December 2020  23 December 2020
PresidentKlaus Iohannis
DeputyRaluca Turcan
Preceded byLudovic Orban
Succeeded byFlorin Cîțu
Minister of National Defence
In office
4 November 2019  25 November 2021
Prime MinisterLudovic Orban
Himself
Florin Cîțu
Preceded byGabriel-Beniamin Leș
Succeeded byVasile Dîncu
President of the National Liberal Party
In office
10 April 2022  25 November 2024
Preceded byGheorghe Flutur (acting)
Succeeded byIlie Bolojan (acting)
Senator of Romania
Assumed office
21 December 2020
ConstituencyDolj County
Chief of the Romanian General Staff
In office
1 January 2015  28 October 2019
PresidentKlaus Iohannis
Preceded byȘtefan Dănilă
Succeeded byDaniel Petrescu
Personal details
Born (1967-02-07) 7 February 1967
Plenița, Dolj County, Socialist Republic of Romania
Political partyNational Liberal Party (2020–present)
Other political
affiliations
Romanian Communist Party (1986—1989)
SpouseCristina Maria Ciucă
Children1
Awards
Military service
Branch/serviceRomanian Land Forces
Years of service1988–2019
RankGeneral
Commands
Battles/wars

Nicolae Ionel Ciucă (Romanian: [nikoˈla.e joˈnel ˈtʃjukə]; born 22 September 1967) is a Romanian politician and retired general of the Romanian Land Forces. Ideologically a conservative, he served as Prime Minister of Romania between 25 November 2021 and 12 June 2023 after receiving widespread parliamentary support on behalf of his own party, the National Liberal Party (PNL) along with the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ). Since 10 April 2022, he has also been serving as the president of the National Liberal Party (PNL). On 12 June 2023, he resigned as prime minister, as part of a deal with his coalition partner, the PSD, to switch places with Marcel Ciolacu, and was temporarily replaced by Cătălin Predoiu.

Ciucă has participated in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was the Chief of the Romanian General Staff from 2015 to 2019, and from 2019 to 2021 was the Minister of Defence. He briefly led as caretaker the Romanian government between 7 and 23 December 2020, in the aftermath of former prime minister Ludovic Orban's resignation. On 21 October 2021, he was appointed by President Klaus Iohannis to form a new government following the dissolution of the Cîțu Cabinet and the rejection of Dacian Cioloș as prime minister but subsequently gave up his mandate. Iohannis nominated him again on 22 November 2021.