2008 in Romania

George Emil Palade was a Romanian-American cell biologist. Described as "the most influential cell biologist ever", in 1974 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Albert Claude and Christian de Duve. The prize was granted for his innovations in electron microscopy and cell fractionation which together laid the foundations of modern molecular cell biology, the most notable discovery being the ribosomes of the endoplasmic reticulum – which he first described in 1955.

Dan Mircea Geoană is a Romanian politician and diplomat, who served as the deputy secretary general of NATO between 2019 and 2024. He previously served as president of the Senate of Romania from December 2008 until he was revoked in November 2011. From April 2005 until February 2010, he was the head of the Social Democratic Party.

Emil Boc is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 22 December 2008 until 6 February 2012 and is the current mayor of Cluj-Napoca, the largest city of Transylvania, where he was first elected in July 2004. Boc was also the president of the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), which proposed and supported him as Prime Minister in late 2008, from December 2004 until July 2012.

Parliamentary elections were held in Romania on 30 November 2008. The Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) won three more seats than PSD in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, although the alliance headed by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) won more votes and a fractionally higher vote share. The two parties subsequently formed a governing coalition with Emil Boc of the PDL as Prime Minister.

The 2008 Bucharest Summit or the 21st NATO Summit was a NATO summit organized in the Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest, Romania on 2 – 4 April 2008.

The Democratic Liberal Party was a liberal-conservative political party in Romania. The party was formed on 15 December 2007, when the Democratic Party (PD) merged with the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD). On 17 November 2014 the PDL officially merged into the National Liberal Party (PNL), ceasing to exist. The PDL was associated with Traian Băsescu, who was previously leader of the PD and President of Romania from 2004 to 2014.

On November 15, 2008, 12 miners died after two explosions at a mine in Petrila, one of six coal mining cities in the Jiu Valley region of Hunedoara County, Romania. On November 24 another miner died at Floreasca Hospital in Bucharest raising the death toll to 13.

Sever Voinescu is a Romanian journalist, political analyst, diplomat and right-wing politician. A Foreign Affairs Ministry figure during the mid-1990s, he was later a Consul General of Romania in Chicago, United States. Voinescu became known as a columnist for Dilema Veche weekly and Cotidianul daily, and worked for the Institute for Public Policies, a political think tank. As pundit, Voinescu supports conservative ideas, and criticizes left-wing and welfare state solutions as applied to his country.

Ilie Sârbu is a Romanian theologian, economist and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), he sat in the Romanian Senate from 2004 to 2015, representing Timiș County. In the Adrian Năstase cabinet, he was Agriculture Minister from 2000 until July 2004, and he held the same position in the Emil Boc cabinet between 2008 and 2009. He was Senate President for six weeks in 2008.

Mihai Stănișoară is a Romanian engineer and politician. A member of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and formerly of the Democratic Liberal Party (PD-L), he was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Mehedinți County from 2000 until March 2007, and has sat in the Romanian Senate since December 2008, representing the same county. In the Emil Boc cabinet, he was Minister of National Defence from December 2008 to December 2009.

Cristian Diaconescu is a Romanian jurist and politician. He previously belonged to the National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD), as well as to the People's Movement Party (PMP), which he led from 2021 to 2022. He sat in the Romanian Senate from 2004 to 2012, representing Constanța County from 2004 until 2008, and subsequently Bucharest. In the Adrian Năstase cabinet, he was Minister of Justice from March to December 2004; in the Emil Boc cabinet, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2008 and 2009. He returned to the position in 2012, also under Boc, and continued in this capacity under Boc's successor, Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu.

Dan Nica is a Romanian engineer and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), he has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2014. He held a seat in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Galați County from 1996 to 2014. In the Adrian Năstase cabinet, he was Minister of Communications and Information Technology from 2000 to July 2004. In the Emil Boc cabinet, he was the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Administration and Interior between February and October 2009. In the Victor Ponta cabinet, he served as Communications Minister for a second time, from May 2012 to February 2014.

Anca-Daniela Boagiu is a Romanian engineer and politician. A member of the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL), she was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Bucharest from 2000 to 2008 and has sat in the Romanian Senate, also for Bucharest, since 2008. In the Mugur Isărescu cabinet, she served as Minister of Transport in 2000; in the Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu cabinet, she was Minister of European Integration from 2005 to 2007; and in the Emil Boc cabinet, she was again Transport Minister from 2010 to 2012.

The 2012 Romanian protests were a series of protests and civil manifestations triggered by the introduction of new health reform legislation. In particular, President Traian Băsescu criticized the Deputy Minister of Health, Raed Arafat, on a Romanian television broadcast. The protests became violent, with both protesters and members of the Gendarmerie sustaining injuries during their clashes.

Events from the year 2010 in Romania.