Born in
Zalău, he attended
Babeș-Bolyai University from 1993 to 1997, graduating with a degree in political science. In 2009, he received a doctorate in the same field from the
National School of Political Science and Public Administration. From 1997 to 1998, he worked as a
stockbroker; In 2000, he was on the
Presidential campaign team of that cabinet's final prime minister,
Mugur Isărescu. and served as its secretary general from 2011 to 2014. From January to November 2007, he was a
Member of the European Parliament. At the
2008 election, he ran for re-election to the Chamber, but was defeated. Subsequently, he became a close ally of PNL leader
Crin Antonescu. In May 2012, Hellvig was named Regional Development and Tourism Minister in the new Ponta cabinet, serving until December.
Elected to a new term in the Chamber at that point, In November 2012, investigators from the
National Integrity Agency (ANI) charged that for several months, from the time he took ministerial office until he left Sintezis that September, he was, legally, in a
conflict of interest. Hellvig denied the charges, which were upheld the following April by the Bucharest Court of Appeal, prompting him to state he would continue to fight for vindication. In December 2014, the
High Court of Cassation and Justice decided in Hellvig's favor, ruling that he had not been in a conflict of interest and rejecting the ANI's claims. In September 2013, when two vacancies opened in the PNL's delegation to the European Parliament, Hellvig filled one of the openings after resigning from the Chamber. As MEP, he sits on the
Internal Market Committee. He won a full term as MEP at the May 2014
European Parliament election. In February 2015,
President Klaus Iohannis nominated him to be director of the
Romanian Intelligence Service; the following month, a joint session of
Parliament confirmed him to the post on a 498–15 vote. A vice president of the PNL at the time, he subsequently resigned from the party, as required, and also from the European Parliament. He resigned as SRI director in July 2023, citing a desire to avoid “
petrification” in office. He rejoined the PNL in November 2024, in the wake of the
presidential election, where the party’s candidate
Nicolae Ciucă fared poorly. In 2019 he was awarded the
Order of the Star of Romania, Officer rank. He and his wife Andreea (
née Dumitraș) have a daughter. ==Notes==