Petre P. Carp

Petre P. Carp
P. P. Carp (pre-1900 photograph)
21st Prime Minister of Romania
In office
7 July 1900 – 13 February 1901
MonarchCarol I
Preceded byGheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino
Succeeded byDimitrie Sturdza
In office
29 December 1910 – 28 March 1912
MonarchCarol I
Preceded byIon I. C. Brătianu
Succeeded byTitu Maiorescu
Minister of Finance
In office
7 July 1900 – 13 February 1901
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byTake Ionescu
Succeeded byGheorghe Pallade
In office
29 December 1910 – 28 March 1912
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byEmil Costinescu
Succeeded byTheodor Rosetti
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
20 April 1870 – 14 December 1870
Prime MinisterManolache Costache Epureanu
Preceded byAlexandru G. Golescu
Succeeded byNicolae Calimachi-Catargiu
In office
22 March 1888 – 22 March 1889
Prime MinisterTheodor Rosetti
Preceded byMihail Pherekyde
Succeeded byAlexandru N. Lahovari
Additional positions
Member of the Senate of Romania
In office
1877–1916
Member of the Assembly of Deputies
In office
1867–1877
ConstituencyVaslui County
Ambassador of Romania to Vienna
In office
31 October 1882 – 21 September 1884
Minister of Agriculture, Industry, Commerce, and Property
In office
4 June 1888 – 11 November 1888
Prime MinisterTheodor Rosetti
Preceded byTitu Maiorescu
Succeeded byAlexandru N. Lahovari
In office
18 December 1891 – 3 October 1895
Prime MinisterLascăr Catargiu
Preceded byGheorghe Manu
Succeeded byGheorghe Pallade
Minister of Religious Affairs and Public Instruction
In office
23 May 1870 – 14 December 1870
Prime MinisterManolache Costache Epureanu
Preceded byVasile Pogor
Succeeded byNicolae Gr. Racoviță
In office
30 January 1876 – 30 March 1876
Prime MinisterLascăr Catargiu
Preceded byTitu Maiorescu
Succeeded byAlexandru Orăscu
Personal details
Born
Petre Petrache Carp

June 28 (or 29), 1837
Iași, Moldavia
DiedJune 19, 1919(1919-06-19) (aged 81)
Țibănești, Romania
NationalityRomanian
Political partyJunimea
Conservative Party
Spouse
Sevastia Cantacuzino
(m. 1874⁠–⁠1919)
OccupationDiplomat, politician

Petre P. Carp (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈpetre pe karp]; also Petrache Carp, Francized Pierre Carp,[1] occasionally Comte Carpe;[2] 28[3] or 29[4] June 1837  – 19 June 1919) was a Moldavian, later Romanian statesman, political scientist and culture critic, one of the major representatives of Romanian liberal conservatism, and twice the country's Prime Minister (1900–1901, 1910–1912). His youth was intertwined with the activity of Junimea club, which he co-founded with critic Titu Maiorescu as a literary society, and then helped transform it into a political club. He left behind a budding career as Junimea's polemicist and cultural journalist, joining the state bureaucracy of the United Principalities, the Romanian diplomatic corps, and ultimately electoral politics. A speaker for aristocratic sentiment and the Romanian gentry, Carp helped create the Conservative Party from the various "White" conservative clubs (1880), but also led a Junimist dissident wing against the Conservative mainstream leaders Lascăr Catargiu and Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino. He was a contributor to the Junimea platform Convorbiri Literare, and founder of the newspapers Térra (1868) and Moldova (1915).

Widely seen as unyielding and trenchant in his public stance, and respected as an orator, P. P. Carp stood against the majority current in various political debates. His entire discourse was an alternative to the protectionist, antisemitic and populist tendencies of "Red" Romanian liberalism. Welcoming Westernization and free trade, his vision of development nonetheless rested on gradualism and criticized modern experiments in governance. The two Carp administrations are remembered for their fiscal reforms, their encouragement of foreign investments, and their attempted clampdown on political corruption.

A Germanophile and a Russophobe, Carp gathered consensus for steering the Kingdom of Romania into the Triple Alliance, but his external policy became entirely unpopular by the start of World War I. During that time, he was the only prominent public figure to demand a declaration of war against the Entente Powers. He came out of retirement during the German occupation of Romania, when he inspired fellow Conservative Lupu Kostaki to set up a collaborationist territorial government. This final project caused his fall into disgrace once the legitimate government regained control.

  1. ^ (in Romanian) Ioana Pârvulescu, "O adresă high-life" Archived 2016-06-02 at the Wayback Machine, in România Literară, Nr. 25/2010
  2. ^ Evans-Gordon, pp.168, 191, 304
  3. ^ (in Romanian) Mircea Dumitriu, "Petre P. Carp – un suflet, un caracter, o idee" Archived 2014-02-23 at the Wayback Machine, in România Liberă, 22 September 2007
  4. ^ Călinescu, p.440