Petre Tilvar, father of new Defense Minister Angel Tilvar, headed Vranca’s counterintelligence until December 1989 and died in 2017, reports Ziarului de Vranca. When asked by reporters about his father and his ties to former security, the new SDP minister said he would like to live “in a country where personnel matters are less important than everyone’s activities.”

Petre Tilvar, Angel Tilvar’s father, headed the counter-intelligence service in Vranca

On Monday evening, President Klaus Iohannis signed a decree appointing Angel Tilvar to the position of Minister of Defense following the resignation of Vasile Dink.

According to Ziarul de Vrancea, Petre Tylvar was the head of counter-intelligence in Vrancea during the communist era. Colonel Petre Tylvar died in 2017, writes a local publication.

When asked by reporters about his father and his ties to former security, the new SDP minister said he would like to live “in a country where personnel matters are less important than everyone’s activities.”

• “I would really like to live in a country where personnel issues are less important than everyone’s work.
• I would very much like to prove with the work that I did and am doing that every citizen of this country is ready to lend his shoulder to the development of this country.
• I don’t know if it will affect (the decision of the head of state – no). His Lordship has the right to do so. I’ve never made a secret of who I am, what I’ve done, what I’m doing and what I’ll do,” Tilvar said.

Tilvar made these statements on Monday after PSD nominated him for the post and before he was appointed by President Klaus Iohannis.

Who is Angel Tylvar?

Angel Tilvar is a senator from the PSD and the president of the delegation of the Parliament of Romania in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

Member of Parliament since 2004, deputy and senator, Angel Tilvar is an English teacher by profession. In politics, he was supported by the organization PSD Vrancea, which at that time was headed by Marian Oprishan.

According to his resume published on the website of the Chamber of Deputies, Angel Tilvar graduated from the Faculty of Foreign Languages. He is an English teacher by profession, but he continued his studies at the National Defense College – postgraduate course, the Mihai Vityazul National Intelligence Academy, as well as at the Romanian Diplomatic Institute.

He was a teacher from 1985-2004 and was elected as a senator from Vranca in 2004. He continued his parliamentary activity, being elected as a deputy in 2008. After the end of his term of office, he was elected as a senator of Vranca in the 2020 parliamentary elections.

In October 2020, Ángel Tilvar (after supporting Marcel Çolaku in PSD leadership) was appointed as the interim president of PSD Vrancea. Initially, Marian Oprisan was removed by a vote of the PSD central leadership after losing the district council president election.