Which position did Teodor Atanasiu hold between Jan 2015 and Feb 2015?
Teodor Atanasiu Teodor Atanasiu ( ; born 23 September 1962 ) is a Romanian engineer and politician . A member of the National Liberal Party ( PNL ) , he was Minister of National Defence in the Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu cabinet from December 2004 to October 2006 . He was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Alba County from 2008 to 2016 . He and his first wife had one daughter before divorcing in 2005 after twenty years of marriage . Soon afterward , he married Laura Bișboacă , a 25-year-old employee of the Alba County Council whom Atanasiu brought to Bucharest as an adviser at the Defence Ministry after being named to head that institution . The two married shortly thereafter , and have one daughter . Atanasiu later drew controversy for having Bișboacăs brother hired at the Agriculture Ministry ( then controlled by a PNL colleague ) and at the Authority for State Assets Recovery once Atanasiu was in charge there ; as well as giving out jobs to his best man and business partner and to a business partner of his wifes . Biography . Early career . He was born in Cugir , Alba County and from 1982 to 1987 attended the Vehicle Construction Technology section of the Technical University of Cluj-Napocas Mechanics Faculty . From 1987 to 1995 , he was an engineer at the mechanical plant in his native town , serving as chief of production from 1995 to 1996 and as director from 1997 to 2001 . From 1994 to 1996 , he belonged to the administrative council of another factory there , while heading a water company in Alba Iulia from 1996 to 1997 . From 1997 to 2000 , he was on the administrative council of the former State Property Fund , and from 2001 to June 2004 , he administered a Dinu Patriciu-owned , Rompetrol subsidiary , pipe manufacturer in Sibiu . Atanasiu entered politics shortly after the 1989 Revolution , joining the PNL in February 1990 . From the following month until 1992 , he was secretary of the partys Cugir organisation , and its president from 1992 to 1993 . Since 1993 , he has been president of the Alba County PNL chapter . From 1992 to 1996 , he was a member of the Cugir town council , and in 1996 joined the Alba County Council , of which he was president from June to December 2004 . He was on the PNLs permanent central bureau from 2001 to 2002 and from 2005 to 2006 , also serving as a party vice president from 2006 to 2008 . Defence Minister . He was named Defence Minister at the end of 2004 , among the cited reasons being his work at the Cugir plant ( which specialised in military equipment ) and his co-authorship in 2000 of a strategy for restructuring Romanias defence industry . Among his initiatives as minister were a reorganisation of the ministry , including a fight against corruption there and an elimination of redundancies ; rest homes for combatants and houses for soldiers ; and compensatory pay for personnel dismissed as part of an ongoing reduction in size of the Romanian Armed Forces . He also promoted a law ending conscription from 2007 , a change he said would promote stability and discipline . He was in office during severe flooding in 2005 that the Army helped combat . He promoted a close strategic partnership with the United States , including a plan for building American military bases in Romania . However , despite affirming his commitment to Romanias participation in both the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan in 2005 , the following year he sought Romanias withdrawal from Iraq , a decision opposed and blocked by President Traian Băsescu . Other controversies came when he implied but later backed away from the possibility of intervening militarily in Transnistrias frozen conflict ; and when he disciplined crew members of the Romanian frigate Regina Maria who went on a hunger strike . Atanasius downfall as minister began in July 2006 , when he remarked on television that the military intelligence service was spying on the presidential administration , and specifically on spokeswoman Adriana Săftoiu . This prompted Săftoiu to sue him for abuse of office , In September , by which time the Social Democratic parliamentarian Eugen Bejinariu had also sued , Băsescu suspended the minister , citing the need to avoid any suspicion that the investigation might be compromised . The PNL objected to the decision , with Tăriceanu calling the step legal but not obligatory , and party spokesman Varujan Vosganian viewing it as retaliation for his Iraq stance . Shortly thereafter , prosecutors decided not to pursue charges , but Atanasiu remained suspended and in late October , with Băsescu poised to dismiss him , resigned , despite a vow several days earlier to stay on until a judicial request he had made to be reinstated was resolved . Subsequent developments . Tăriceanu immediately named Atanasiu head of the Authority for State Assets Recovery ( AVAS ) , a position he held until December 2008 . He resigned because he had just been elected to the Chamber of Deputies , where he served until September 2009 on the economics , reform and privatisation committee , and continues to serve on the joint parliamentary committee providing oversight to the activities of the Romanian Intelligence Service . At the 2012 local election , he ran for president of the Alba County Council , coming in second with 40.5% of the vote and losing to the Democratic Liberal Party incumbent , the only one of his party to win such a post at the election . That autumn , he was returned to parliament . In late 2014 , he was a candidate for the PNL presidency , but withdrew from the race shortly before it was decided , casting his support behind the winner , Alina Gorghiu . Atanasiu ran for a Buzău County seat in the Senate at the 2016 election , but lost .