Ilie Verdeț

Ilie Verdeț
51st Prime Minister of Romania
In office 29 March 1979 – 21 May 1982
President	Nicolae Ceaușescu
Preceded by	Manea Mănescu
Succeeded by	Constantin Dăscălescu
In office 22 December 1989 – 22 December 1989
Preceded by	Constantin Dăscălescu
Succeeded by	Petre Roman
Vice President of the State Council
In office 1982–1982
President	Nicolae Ceaușescu
Succeeded by	Manea Manescu
First Vice President of the Council of Ministers
In office 3 January 1967 – 30 March 1979
Prime Minister	Ion Gheorghe Maurer Manea Manescu
Preceded by	Emil Bodnăraș
Succeeded by	Gheorghe Oprea
Chairman of the State Planning Committee
In office 7 March 1978 – 29 March 1979
Prime Minister	Manea Manescu
Preceded by	Mihai Marinescu
Succeeded by	Nicolae Constantin
Minister of Mines
In office 18 October 1985 – 20 June 1986
Prime Minister	Constantin Dăscălescu
Preceded by	Marin Ștefanache
Succeeded by	Ministry dissolved
Chairman of the Socialist Party of Labour
In office 16 November 1990 – 20 March 2001
Succeeded by	Ion Sasu
Personal details
Born	(1925-05-10)10 May 1925 Comănești, Kingdom of Romania
Died	20 March 2001(2001-03-20) (aged 75) Bucharest, Romania
Political party	Romanian Communist Party (1945–1989) Socialist Party of Labour (1990–2001)
Spouse	Reghina Graumann (1947–2001)
Alma mater	Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies

Ilie Verdeț (10 May 1925 – 20 March 2001) was a Romanian communist politician who served as Romania’s Prime Minister from 1979 to 1982.

Born in Comănești, Bacău County, and a miner from age 12, he joined the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) in 1945. After graduating from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, he climbed through the party apparatus. By the early 1960s, he was working in the central office of the PCR in Bucharest, as deputy of Nicolae Ceauşescu, who was in charge of party organization and appointments. After the death of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej in March 1965, Verdeț helped Ceaușescu gain the position of Secretary General of the PCR.

Soon afterwards, Verdeț was promoted to the Permanent Bureau of the Political Executive Committee of the PCR. He held many political positions, including those of Deputy Prime Minister (1966–1974) and Prime Minister of Romania (1979–1982). He was sent by Ceaușescu to solve the Jiu Valley miners' strike of 1977, but was unable to negotiate and was held hostage for two days (which he had later denied).

After the fall of Ceaușescu in December 1989, Verdeţ declared himself the head of a provisional government, but it only lasted for about 20 minutes, after which he was pushed aside by Ion Iliescu, who emerged as the leader of the National Salvation Front (FSN).

Subsequently, in 1990, Verdeț founded a political party called Socialist Party of Labour (Romanian: Partidul Socialist al Muncii, PSM), which narrowly entered Parliament in the 1992 elections, but in the next elections failed to win any seats. He remained the leader of PSM until the 2000 elections, after which he was removed from this position.

He died of a heart attack in 2001 in Bucharest at the age of 75.

Verdeț and his wife Reghina married in 1947. They had two daughters: Doina (b. 1948) and Cezarina (b. 1953).

• Gabriel Partos, "Obituary: Ilie Verdet", The Independent, April 23, 2001