Andrei Năstase (born 6 August 1975) is a Moldovan politician serving as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs from 8 June 2019 to 12 November 2019. He was member of Parliament of Moldova in 2019. Năstase has been leader of Dignity and Truth Platform Party (Platforma DA) from 2015 to 2021.
Năstase was selected as joint candidate of pro-European Platforma DA and PAS parties and won the runoff of the 2018 Chișinău mayoral snap election with 52.57% of the votes, outrunning pro-Russian PSRM candidate, Ion Ceban. However, the elections were later invalidated, which caused widespread criticism from the EU and US.
In the 2019 parliamentary election, Năstase's Platforma DA together with its ally, PAS led by Maia Sandu formed the ACUM Electoral Bloc and secured 26 of the 101 seats in the Parliament of Moldova. On June 8, during the 2019 constitutional crisis, Andrei Năstase was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs in the Sandu cabinet. On November 12, 2019, Sandu's government has been resigned because of the motion of no confidence. Năstase criticised Sandu's decision to assume responsibility for overruling its own contest rules for the appointment of the General Prosecutor. The Constitutional Court later decided that Sandu's decision was illegal.
Biography
Born on August 6, 1975, in the village of Mîndrești, nowadays in Telenești district, he is the son of Andrei and Anna Năstase. Between 1982 and 1992 Năstase has studied at the Mîndrești school, from 1992 until 1993 he has studied at the Faculty of History-Geography of the Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania, and between 1993 and 1997 he studied at the Faculty of Law of the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania.
Professional activity
From 1997 to 2000, Năstase worked as a prosecutor, employed at the Office of the Chișinău Prosecutor of Transport, initially as interim aid, then as assistant to the transport prosecutor. Not much information about his work in this position is available. In a reply sent to RISE Moldova following an enquiry, the General Prosecutor's Office stated that "in the archives, some documents set up by the assistant of the transport prosecutor, Andrei Năstase, regarding inspections of several aspects of the activity of civil aviation enterprises, including the state enterprise Air Moldova, have been identified". According to the reply of the General Prosecutor's Office, "although, following the controls, a number of derogations were established in the activity of Air Moldova (subordinated to the State Civil Aviation Administration, headed in that period by Victor Țopa), no prosecutor's reaction has been taken on detected violations". Test
From 2000 to 2002, Năstase worked as a deputy director of the Moldovan-German Joint Undertaking Air Moldova S.R.L. During this time, Air Moldova has been transformed from a state-owned enterprise into a joint venture, a procedure which has drawn accusations of unlawfulnesses from political analyst Victor Gurău. According to him, the company's shares were taken over by a so-called foreign investor, which had no accounts and did not meet the minimum requirements to form an undertaking. He claimed that Năstase, together with former Prime Minister Vlad Filat, businessmen Victor Țopa and Viorel Țopa and former Finance Minister Anatol Arapu were involved in the privatization of Air Moldova.
Political activity
In early 2015, Năstase, along with several opinion leaders, journalists, lawyers, political scientists, ambassadors, and others, participated at the foundation of the Civic Platform Dignity and Truth. He is also one of the leaders of the protest movement in Moldova in September 2015. On 1 November 2015, he was elected President of the Executive Bureau of the Initiative Group set up to organize the Republican referendum amending the Constitution with regard to the election and direct dismissal of the president by the people, the limitation of parliamentary immunity and the number of deputies from 101 to 71. Năstase has also drafted laws that were subsequently examined and positively endorsed by the Constitutional Court. In December 2015, a part of the Dignity and Truth Platform members, including Năstase, joined the People's Force Party. At the extraordinary congress on 13 December 2015, the party was renamed to Dignity and Truth Platform Party (Partidul Politic "Platforma Demnitate și Adevăr", Platforma DA), elected new governing bodies, and Năstase was elected as party chairman.