In 1981, Pogea graduated from the Materials Science and Engineering Faculty of the
Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest. He also holds a doctorate in the same field. In October 2000, Pogea entered the Democratic Party (PD; later evolved into the PD-L), the first party he entered after 1989. He ran for a
Senate seat in the
election the following month, but barely lost. In 2000, he was elected head of the Hunedoara chapter of the PD; soon after, he won the chairmanship of the
Hunedoara County chapter, He was then offered the position of
Bucharest city manager, but declined, returning instead to the marble business. and to warn that Romania's
GDP could fall by 6.5% in 2009. He also promised a complete rewrite of the fiscal code, aiming to make it simpler and more transparent, and reduce the number of taxes on businesses and individuals. In October 2009, he became interim Labour Minister following the resignation of his PSD cabinet colleagues, including
Marian Sârbu, the previous occupant of that ministry, holding the portfolio until December. His ministerial term ended when he was not reappointed to a new cabinet under Boc at the end of 2009. In August 2013, he was named director of CrisTim, a producer of cold meats. ==Notes==