Elena Udrea

Elena Gabriela Udrea is a Romanian politician. An independent who held office while in the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) and then the People's Movement Party (PMP), she was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies from 2008 to 2016. In successive Emil Boc cabinets, she served as Tourism Minister from 2008 to 2009 and as Regional Development and Tourism Minister from 2009 to 2012. Sentenced to six years in prison for corruption offenses, she sought asylum in Costa Rica in 2018. The following year, she gave up the asylum claim and returned to Romania, where she served a sentence until her release in July 2025.