Judicial and diplomatic career He was born in Bucharest, He completed his mandatory military service in 1978–1979 within a unit troops answering to the
Securitate,
Communist Romania's secret police, ending as a 2nd Lieutenant and later recalling that his instruction was purely in regular combat. At the
2004 election, which the PSD lost, he won a Senate seat, and chaired that body's defence, public order and national security committee. In 2005, he became a vice president of the PSD; (Additionally, in 2006, shortly before the
National Anticorruption Directorate announced it would question his wife in its investigation into the loss of
€1 million in state funds while she was a bank president, he announced he would resign his party positions partly in connection with this, but reversed course several days later.) Diaconescu reluctantly agreed to run for
Mayor of Bucharest in June 2008, promising a doubling of the minimum monthly salary and an additional pension payment per year. He lost in the first round, coming in third with 13.2% of the vote. He was re-elected as senator
in November 2008, and the following month, he was named to the
Boc cabinet. Upon winning confirmation as minister, among the priorities Diaconescu announced were a consolidation of Romania's position within the EU, including by pushing for ratification of the
Lisbon Treaty; regional policy, including toward
Moldova and the
Black Sea area; and securing the rights of the
Romanians of Serbia. Later, in an interview, he added that improving relations with Russia and
China was also on his agenda, as well as having the EU focus on energy security. He visited the United States in May 2009, meeting with
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and commenting that Romania continued to be a "trustworthy partner" for the US, in turn an "essential ally" of Romania. The issue of Moldova vividly appeared on the agenda during the
April 2009 civil unrest, when Diaconescu commented that the authorities there had "exceeded limits" by arresting protesters without explanation, requiring visas of Romanians wishing to enter the country, expelling all Romanian journalists, and "provoking" the Romanian government by accusing it of involvement in the events. He soon announced that Moldovans would be able to obtain Romanian citizenship more easily. Additionally, he had to deal with the sometimes tense situation faced by Romanian citizens living in Italy and the United Kingdom. Together with his PSD colleagues, Diaconescu resigned from the cabinet on 1 October 2009, in protest at the dismissal of vice prime minister and Interior Minister
Dan Nica.
Defection from PSD and subsequent developments In February 2010, Diaconescu sought election as PSD president, but withdrew from the race several hours before the party congress that would decide the winner opened. Subsequently, journalist
Floriana Jucan alleged that Diaconescu had been subject to round-the-clock surveillance for ten days prior to the congress, and that party colleagues had carried out the monitoring in order to blackmail him. Near the end of the month, he resigned from the party and from its vice presidency, also filing a judicial complaint asking for an investigation into his surveillance. Initially sitting as an independent in
Gabriel Oprea's group, he followed the latter into the newly founded UNPR, being elected honorary president in May. In February 2011, he was elected one of the Senate's vice presidents. Following the dismissal of
Teodor Baconschi during
anti-government protests, Diaconescu was once again named foreign minister in January 2012. After Boc and his cabinet resigned the following month, Diaconescu was retained in his post by incoming prime minister Ungureanu. He left office in May due to the Ungureanu cabinet's dismissal by a
motion of no confidence. Quickly named an adviser to
President Traian Băsescu, whereupon he left the Senate, as well as resigning from the UNPR, he was dismissed that August by interim President
Crin Antonescu, but resumed his post once Băsescu returned as president. He left the Băsescu administration in April 2014, joining the
People's Movement Party (PMP) the following month. In June, he was named the party's candidate for the
November presidential election. In August, prior to a move by party president
Elena Udrea to take his place as the PMP candidate, he resigned from the party and announced he would continue his campaign as an independent. Ten days later, he abandoned his candidacy and endorsed Udrea. In early 2020, Diaconescu rejoined the PMP. A year later, he was unanimously elected party president, and was simultaneously announced as its
2024 candidate for President of Romania. His eleven-month term ended when supporters of former PMP leader
Eugen Tomac convened a party congress. In spite of Diaconescu’s claim that the meeting was invalid, the delegates elected Tomac to a new term. Diaconescu would later be expelled from the PMP by the newly elected leadership of the party. In February 2025, he was named defense and national security adviser to interim president
Ilie Bolojan. ==Electoral history==