Octav Cozmâncă

Octav Cozmâncă (; born 22 September 1947) is a Romanian politician. A former member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), he was a member of the Romanian Senate for Botoșani County from 1996 to 2008. In the Adrian Năstase cabinet, he was Minister of Public Administration from 2000 to 2003.

Biography Born in Talpa village, now in Cândești Commune, Botoșani County, Cozmâncă graduated from the Law Faculty of the University of Bucharest in 1971. In 1980, he joined the central committee of the UTC.

Elected to the Senate in 1996, he sat on various committees there: budget, finance, banking and capital markets (1996–2000); public administration, territorial organisation and environmental protection (1996–2000; 2004–2005); joint committee providing oversight to the activities of the Romanian Intelligence Service (2004–2008). He was Public Administration Minister from December 2000 to June 2003. Within his party, which he joined in 1992, he has been secretary of the national council (1993–1997), member of the executive central bureau (1996–2005), executive secretary (1997–2003) and executive president (2003–2005). Following criticisms of the party that he issued, the PSD removed him as a member in 2009. In 2011, together with other former members of the Romanian Communist Party, he was among the initiators of a new left-wing formation, the Party of Social Justice.

He and his wife, who died in 2005, had one child.