NICOLAE TITULESCU, FINANCE MINISTER OF ROMANIA
NICOLAE TITULESCU, FINANCE MINISTER OF ROMANIA

Summary/Abstract: Nicolae Titulescu was one of the most powerful personalities of his time, who deeply marked the Romanian society and the international one between the two world wars. Nicolae Titulescu was born in March 1882 in Craiova, in a family known and appreciated in the Oltenian lands. Between 1888-1900 he attended Jules Javet primary school and Carol I College in Craiova. He attended law courses and was noted by famous French lawyers such as Marcel Planiol, Charles Lyon-Caen, Berthelemy. As a professor, he has decided to improve the quality of legal education in Romania and to modernize the legislation system in order to meet the needs of the country's social and economic development. As a diplomat, Nicolae Titulescu successfully served as foreign affairs minister and represented Romania at the League of Nations, where he strongly opposed the war as a means of resolving misunderstandings between states and for strengthening peace through the force of law. As a politician, Nicolae Titulescu entered the Democratic Conservative Party, headed by Tache Ionescu, on February 16, 1908. His political qualities have been remarked by Tache Ionescu, who has foreseen a brilliant future in this respect. Nicolae Titulescu, as a state man, was twice extraordinary and plenipotentiary minister in London (1921-1927, 1928-1932). At the same time, he was permanently delegated from Romania to the Nationals' Society, whose president was elected in 1930 and 1931. Throughout his prodigious career, Nicolae Titulescu twice fulfilled the position of Romanian Finance Minister. On June 10, 1917, Nicolae Titulescu first obtained the position of Romanian Finance Minister in the Government of I.C. Brătianu - Take Ionescu. On 13 June 1920 he was appointed for the second time Minister of Finance in Averescu - Take Ionescu Government. As a result of the maturity of his life, Nicolae Titulescu elaborated and applied in this period an important financial reform, imperiously needed after the end of the First World War and the realization of the Great Union. The financial reform was based on the idea of cedular tax (a progressive conception for those times) supplemented by a progressive global income tax and luxury tax, turnover tax, as well as minimum subsistence income exemptions.

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