Hildegard Carola Puwak (16 September 1949–25 May 2018) was a Romanian politician, a member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), who served as the Minister for European Integration from 2000 until October 2003 (as part of the Adrian Năstase cabinet).
[2] On 29 July 2003 a corruption scandal broke out when Adevărul newspaper accused Puwak of facilitating access for her husband's and her son's companies to some 150,000 non-reimbursable Euros through the "Leonardo da Vinci" European Union program, while she was in charge of those funds.
[8] On 13 October, PSD's Permanent Delegation (party leadership) decided to continue political support for her and Health Minister Mircea Beuran, awaiting the conclusion of the EU audit.
[10][11][12] Năstase commented that "They resigned to eliminate suspicions and the risk that the government will be forced to explain minor issues instead of taking care of important matters," referring to Romania's bid to join the EU.
[12] On 30 October, the Greater Romania Party, supported by PD and PNL, tried to initiate a parliamentary inquiry commission on the scandal, but this effort was defeated by the majority of the Romanian Senate.