 From May to October 2007, he was undersecretary of state for European affairs at the ministry.Following the resignation of Decebal Traian Remeș due to a corruption scandal, he was appointed Agriculture Minister in October 2007, serving until the following December, when Tăriceanu's National Liberal Party-led government left office after a parliamentary election.Early in 2009, he returned to work at the Agriculture and Rural Development DG, and that July, President Traian Băsescu named him to head a one-year commission looking at public agricultural development policies.