He joined the Reșița Ironworks as an engineer and later became the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Caraș-Severin County.

In December 1997, he was appointed as Ministry of Water, Forestry and Environmental Protection in the cabinet of Victor Ciorbea.

The first appointment, from 13 March 2000 to 28 December 2000, came in the First cabinet of Mugur Isărescu when President Emil Constantinescu chose him to replace defence minister Victor Babiuc, who had left the Democratic Party but refused to leave the ministerial post.

[4] He returned to the post from 25 October 2006 to 5 April 2007, in the first cabinet of Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu after defence minister Teodor Atanasiu resigned following a long running dispute with President Traian Băsescu.

Within the European Parliament, he was involved in the EU-Western Balkans dialogue, acting as a member in the Delegation for relations with the countries of south-east Europe and the Delegation to the EU-Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Joint Parliamentary Committee.