The Iohannis Decade

30 Years and 15 Minutes

30 Years of Democracy

What Is a Good Tax?

Klaus Werner Iohannis (Romanian: [ˈkla.us joˈhanis]; German: [ˈklaʊs joˈhanɪs]; born 13 June 1959) is a Romanian politician, physicist, and former physics teacher who has been serving as the sixth president of Romania from 2014. He became the president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) in 2014, after previously serving as the leader of the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (FDGR/DFDR) between 2002 and 2013. Prior to entering national politics, he was a physics teacher at the Samuel von Brukenthal National College in his native Sibiu. 
He was initially elected in 2014 and then subsequently re-elected by a landslide in 2019. His late presidency (his second term) has been marked by democratic backsliding as well as a slight shift towards illiberalism and a more authoritarian style of government, especially after the 2021 political crisis and the formation of the National Coalition for Romania (CNR). 
It has faced allegations of suppression of freedom of speech and also suppression of press freedom. Furthermore, his approval ratings have decreased since April 2021 onwards as his electorate's trust in him declined based on his political behaviour, favouring the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and rebuffing his former political allies (albeit several of them being solely conjunctural in the past) in the process. A survey from June 2023 shows that over 90% of Romanians do not trust Iohannis, with only 8% having a positive opinion on him.
In 2023, The Economist ranked Romania the last country in the European Union (EU) in terms of democracy, even behind Viktor Orbán's Hungary. Moreover, as of 2022, Romania ranks 61st globally according to The Economist Democracy Index (on par with Montenegro), five positions behind fellow EU country Hungary who had also undergone democratic backsliding.
He was first elected the mayor of the Romanian town of Sibiu, Transylvania in 2000, on behalf of the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (FDGR/DFDR). Although the Transylvanian Saxon population of Sibiu had declined to a tiny minority by the early 2000s, he won a surprise victory and was re-elected by landslides in 2004, 2008, and 2012. He is credited with turning his home town into one of Romania's most popular tourist destinations, Sibiu subsequently obtaining the title of European Capital of Culture in 2007 alongside Luxembourg City, the capital of Luxembourg.
In October 2009, four of the five political groups in the Parliament, excluding the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) of then President Traian Băsescu, proposed him as a candidate for the office of Prime Minister of Romania; however, Băsescu refused to nominate him despite the Parliament's adoption of a declaration supporting his candidacy. He was again the candidate for Prime Minister of the PNL and the PSD in the elections in the same year. In February 2013, He became a member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), accepting an invitation from then liberal leader Crin Antonescu, and was immediately elected the party's first vice-president, eventually becoming the PNL president during the following year.
Ideologically a conservative, he is the first Romanian president belonging to an ethnic minority, as he is a Transylvanian Saxon, part of Romania's German minority, which settled in Transylvania during the High Middle Ages.

Klaus Iohannis

Acted in

The Iohannis Decade

30 Years and 15 Minutes

30 Years of Democracy

What Is a Good Tax?