The guest of this Meat.Milk. edition is Daniel Constantin, a profile that spans all levels of public decision-making in the agricultural sector.

A graduate of the Faculty of Animal Science and holder of a master’s degree in quality management and innovation from the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest, with administrative beginnings during the pre-accession period and the first years of European integration, his trajectory is directly linked to the construction of the mechanisms through which Romania began to manage European funds for agriculture. Daniel Constantin had a varied professional start: evaluator in projects financed by the World Bank and coordinator of European integration advisers within the Ministry of Agriculture, before becoming Director General of APIA in 2009.

In 2009, at the helm of APIA, the direct payments system went through one of its most tense moments: the risk of losing approximately 1.6 billion euros. It was a period in which administrative functioning meant operational resilience, procedure, and decision-making under pressure.

“There were moments when the position no longer mattered, only that we should not lose the farmers’ money.”

His mandate as Minister of Agriculture (2012–2015) established two major benchmarks. The reduction of VAT on basic food products, applied gradually and extended to 9% starting in 2015, was supported as a fiscal instrument for reducing the grey economy and strengthening the agri-food industry. At the same time, the relaunch of the irrigation program was conceived as a structural intervention.

“Some decisions do not produce effects on the day you sign them, but years later.”

Subsequently, as Minister of Environment, Deputy Prime Minister and Member of Parliament, his role shifted from the technical sphere to that of political negotiation and institutional balance.

“Politics gives you the power to decide, but it takes away your peace of mind.”

Beyond his positions, his career reflects the transition from the technical administration of complex European mechanisms to assuming political decision-making in moments of major economic stakes. He managed periods of image crisis for the industry, difficult budget negotiations, and institutional balances in an often volatile political context.

Today, Daniel Constantin is President of the Romanian Agency for Investments and Foreign Trade (ARICE), in a role that extends his agricultural experience toward Romania’s economic and commercial dimension—investments, exports, and balance in the trade balance.