been a vice president of the national party. During 2000, he was president of the Timiș County Council, and was appointed Agriculture Minister at the end of that year. In this capacity, he led and finalised negotiations with the European Union on the Agriculture chapter of the acquis. Several scandals affected his term: in 2001, he was accused of criminal involvement in the privatisation of a Prahova County company, but later cleared; in 2003, a number of national newspapers alleged that he obtained a spacious central Bucharest villa at far below market value through a shady deal; also, he lost a testicle in a hunting accident that December. He was dismissed in July 2004 by Prime Minister Adrian Năstase so he could focus on party work, and stated the move came as "a surprise" to him. Later in 2004, Sârbu was elected senator, serving as the body's secretary and, from October to December 2008, as its president, being elected to that position following the resignation of Nicolae Văcăroiu. In 2008, he was re-elected senator and named Agriculture Minister once again. In this capacity, he pledged to find new markets for Romanian agricultural products and to obtain additional funds through the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. Regarding the latter priority, at the April 2009 Council of Ministers meeting, he secured a commitment to raise subsidies by €35 per hectare, benefiting around 1.25 million farmers. Previously, he had fired 60 managers at the agency responsible for distributing the EU funds because of repeated delays in starting payments. Together with his PSD colleagues, Sârbu resigned from the cabinet on 1 October 2009 in protest at the dismissal of vice prime minister and Interior Minister Dan Nica. The following August, he was elected PSD leader in the Senate. In August 2015, he announced his withdrawal from politics, ahead of a planned confirmation to the Court of Accounts; this took place the following month. Notes External links Official site Personal blog Parliamentary profile |- |- Social Democratic Party (Romania) politicians Romanian Ministers of Agriculture Members of the Senate of Romania Presidents of the Senate of Romania Romanian economists Romanian theologians Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church People from Caraș-Severin County University of Craiova alumni 1950 births Living people