Daniel Petru Funeriu (born 11 April 1971) is a Romanian politician.
Born in Arad, Daniel Petru Funeriu at the European Parliament site he was a high school student when he fled Communist Romania for France in 1988. "Daniel Funeriu, numit consilier prezidențial", Mediafax, February 10, 2012 There, he studied chemistry at the University of Strasbourg, graduating in 1994 and obtaining a doctorate from the same institution in 1999. Curriculum Vitae, hotnews.ro
Early life and education Daniel P. Funeriu (Petru-Daniel Funeriu) was born on April 11, 1971, in Arad, his parents being teachers in Birchiș. His father is , and his mother Maria Funeriu, a Romanian language teacher. He has a sister. He spent the first years of his life with his parents and maternal grandfather in Săvârșin, and at the age of two the family moved to Timișoara, his father becoming a researcher at the Romanian Academy, and his mother an assistant professor at the University of Timișoara. His father is a reputed philologist, his major achievement being a fundamental revision of the theory of Romanian versification. In 1981 he published Romanian Versification, a Linguistic Perspective. Using the principles enunciated in his theory on versification, Ionel Funeriu discovered and corrected hundreds of errors in the editing of Alexandru Macedonski's poetry, a discovery that gave rise to a controversy with Macedonski's publisher, Adrian Marino. Daniel Funeriu autobiography page
Daniel P. Funeriu's maternal grandparents were originally from Podu Turcului, Bacău County, and his paternal grandparents were peasant householders from Pâncota, Arad County. His paternal grandfather fought at Stalingrad, where he was wounded. Funeriu often talks about the folk wisdom acquired from his grandparents.
In 1976 he lost his mother and lived until 1978 with his grandfather in Săvârșin, where he started school, being a classmate of Cristian Herbei, one of the heroes of the Romanian Revolution in 1989, who was killed in Otopeni. In the second grade, he moved to Timișoara to the special gymnastics class of the General School no. 18 where, in a parallel class, Igor Bergler, who became a successful author, was studying. He practiced gymnastics, athletics and football and had good grades in science. In the eighth grade, he qualified for the first time for the National Chemistry Olympiad, where he met and was inspired by several young people who would later become great researchers, such as: Adrian Șalic, now a professor at Harvard Medical School, Mihai Bărboiu, Traian Sulea, and Dragoș Horvat. Funeriu would say about them that they were compasses worth following.
In 1985 he passed with an average of 9.75 the entrance examination to the very selective High School of Philology and History (now the Banat College), the chemistry-biology class, where he continued his passion for chemistry. In 1988, in the eleventh grade, he won the silver medal at the Balkan Chemistry Olympiad in Sofia, Bulgaria. In the summer of 1988, taking advantage of a trip to France, he defected and settled in Strasbourg, where he was admitted to the Lycée International des Pontonniers. Being under 18 years old and without parents or resources, he received support at the beginning of his stay in France from the social protection system. A few months after arriving in France, he won the second prize at the French Chemistry Olympiad. Thanks to the Olympiad prize, on the recommendation of Professor Jean-Marie Lehn, a recent Nobel laureate (1987), he received a scholarship from a local bank, which allowed him, together with the financial prize from the Olympiad and various temporary jobs (bartender, waiter, tutoring, and laboratory), to continue his studies after the baccalaureate obtained in the summer of 1989. He attended the elite Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes Ecoles course at Lycée Kléber in Strasbourg, and in 1991 he was admitted to the European Higher Institute of Chemistry of Strasbourg (now European School of Chemistry, Polymers and Materials Science, École européenne de chimie, polymères et matériaux) and became, in 1992, a laboratory worker in Professor Lehn's laboratory, where he worked on his first research project. After graduating as a chemical engineer in 1994 and a short period at Merck & Co. in the United States, in 1995 he completed his studies as valedictorian. He obtained the "Diplôme d'Études Approfondies" in organic and supramolecular chemistry at the Université de Strasbourg and began his doctoral studies in Professor Lehn's laboratory.
After completing his doctorate in 1999, obtained with the highest distinction "Très honorable avec félicitations", he worked for a period as a postdoctoral researcher at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California and, after 2002, as a researcher at the National Institute of Advanced Science and Engineering in Amagasaki, Japan. In 2006, he received an offer to lead a research group at the Max Plank Institute for Molecular Physiology in Dortmund and, at the same time, won a Marie Curie Excellence grant of two million euros. He chose the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where he was part of the team that conceived the university's candidacy for the German government's newly launched Exzellenzinitiative. Together with the team of rector Wolfgang Herrmann, he supported the university's candidacy that was declared the winner, which brought over 45 million euros to the university.
Private life Funeriu is married to Sandra Funeriu, a French citizen, whom he met at a party in Strasbourg in 1994 and with whom he has two children.
Early political career From December 2008 to July 2009, Funeriu represented Romania in the European Parliament, sitting for the Democratic Liberal Party. From December 2009 until February 2012, he was Education Minister in the cabinet led by Emil Boc. Shortly thereafter, he became an advisor to President Traian Băsescu.
He attracted the attention of the Romanian press and, in 2007 he became vice-president of the Presidential Commission for the analysis and elaboration of policies in the fields of education, appointed by President Traian Băsescu. He was invited to run in the European Parliament elections on behalf of the Liberal Democratic Party and, in January 2009, he became an MEP in the European People's Party group. His mandate in the European Parliament coincided with the movement for democratic changes in the Republic of Moldova, and he initiated for the first time in the plenary session of the European Parliament the request for the right of Moldovan citizens to travel freely within the European Union.
Disgraced by the party because of his reformist positions, he did not receive an eligible seat for the 2009 European Parliament elections. He was appointed Minister of Education, Research, Youth and Sports in the Lucian Croitoru government, which was rejected by Parliament. In the hearings of the specialized commission, obviously hostile, Funeriu refused to present his program while seated, choosing to speak standing, saying that "even when I am rejected for political reasons, I remain straight". He participated in President Băsescu's campaign in 2009, and became minister of education, research, youth and sports with the support of Băsescu, Mircea Miclea, and the academic world. As minister, he initiated a series of major changes, especially those aimed at the moral reform of society (by stopping exam fraud and the first anti-plagiarism campaign). In 2010, against the background of the threats of strike caused by the period of major economic crisis, he managed to end the school year without a single day of national strike and signed the Education Law 1/2011 which put into practice the modernization processes designed by Professor Mircea Miclea. This law was highly praised by the European Commission. http://arhiva.gov.ro/the-executive-has-adopted-the-draft-national-education-law__l2a108669.html
In 2012, in light of the resignation of the Boc Government, Funeriu was appointed presidential advisor for education and research.
In 2013 he founded the People's Movement Foundation, which was at the origin of the People's Movement Party, and in 2014, amid the cooling of the relationship with President Băsescu and Elena Udrea, he ran against her in the presidential election of the People's Movement Party, to mark his political disagreement. He did not win the internal elections and withdrew from active politics, although enjoying significant media visibility due to his pertinent and razor-sharp positions on education and general political directions of the country.
In 2014, following a series of checks started by himself during his ministerial position, the "Microsoft scandal" broke out, in which Funeriu was declared innocent by prosecutors after 3 years of checks in the criminal prosecution procedure. In 2014, the National Anticorruption Directorate started the criminal prosecution of 9 ministers. Funeriu was verified regarding the signing of a contract for the purchase of licenses that was detrimental to the state (in reality Funeriu did not participate in the signing of any contract), being accused of having ordered too many licenses (in reality Funeriu started controls to verify the use of the purchased licenses) and having influenced the Minister of Communications Valerian Vreme to participate in the acquisition of licenses, although the latter denied having ever discussed the matter with Funeriu. Funeriu was the only one of the 9 ministers who was not criminally prosecuted. The others were either convicted (Gabriel Sandu), acquitted (Valerian Vreme), or were saved by the statute of limitations.
He returned for a short period to research, collaborating with Professor Nicolas Giuseppone, and was appointed High Advisor of the European Union to the Government of the Republic of Moldova in 2017, supporting the Republic of Moldova in the process of implementing the reforms necessary for accession to the European Union.
Scientific career