PSD leadership has proposed senator Ioan Denes to head the Ministry of Waters and Forests, after former minister Doina Pana resigned last week for health-related reasons.
Ioan Denes is 50 years old and he is on his second term in the Senate. Before becoming a senator, Denes had been a local counsellor for Beclean and for Bistrita County. He was a member of PNL until 2014, and then migrated to PSD.
He is a graduate of the Technical University of Cluj Napoca and a mechanical sub-engineer. He has worked as a teacher and as an electrician for CFR, and was commercial director in two companies.
Denes was criticised in 2017 for a statement he gave to the local press, saying that same-sex couples should not have the same rights as a heterosexual couple. At the time, PSD leader Liviu Dragnea said he did not agree with the senator and that PSD is a tolerant party that wants all people to respect each other.