Who Is Traian Basescu?

Traian Basescu (b. 1951) is the current President of Romania, although he was suspended from his job by Members of Parliament on 19 April 2007, over corruption charges. Basescu was first elected president in December 2004 and ran on a centrist platform. The reforms initiated during his term in office helped Romania join the European Union.

Basescu has been strongly anti-communist in his politics and rhetoric and used this as a way to differentiate himself from the likes of Ion Iliescu, Romania's former president and leader of the leftist Social Democrats. Iliescu, who had been involved in Nicolae Ceausescu's dictatorial regime before 1989, dominated Romanian politics during the 1990s.

Under Basescu, Romania improved its relations with not only the EU, but also with the United States. For example, Basescu committed Romanian troops to both Afghanistan and Iraq and has spoken of his "friendship" with George Bush on a number of occasions.

With the legislature voting to suspend Basescu, a referendum will likely be called, whereby Romania's voters may decide whether or not to impeach the president.