| Manea Mănescu | |
| Order: | 50th |
| Office: | Prime Minister of Romania |
| President: | Nicolae Ceaușescu |
| Term Start: | 27 February 1974 |
| Term End: | 29 March 1979 |
| Predecessor: | Ion Gheorghe Maurer |
| Successor: | Ilie Verdeț |
| Office1: | Vice President of the State Council |
| Term Start1: | 1969 |
| Term End1: | 1972 |
| President1: | Nicolae Ceaușescu |
| Predecessor1: | Constanța Crăciun |
| Successor1: | Miron Constantinescu |
| Term Start2: | 1983 |
| Term End2: | 1989 |
| President2: | Nicolae Ceaușescu |
| Predecessor2: | Ilie Verdeț |
| Successor2: | Office abolished |
| Office3: | Chairman of the State Planning Committee |
| Primeminister3: | Ion Gheorghe Maurer |
| Term Start3: | 13 October 1972 |
| Term End3: | 27 February 1974 |
| Predecessor3: | Maxim Berghianu |
| Successor3: | Emil Drăgănescu |
| Office4: | Minister of Finance |
| Primeminister4: | Chivu Stoica |
| Term Start4: | 3 October 1955 |
| Term End4: | 19 March 1957 |
| Predecessor4: | Dumitru Petrescu |
| Successor4: | Aurel Vijoli |
| Birth Date: | 9 August 1916 |
| Birth Place: | Brăila, Kingdom of Romania |
| Death Place: | Bucharest, Romania |
| Party: | Romanian Communist Party |
| Alma Mater: | Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies |
Manea Mănescu (9August 191627February 2009) was a Romanian communist politician who served as Prime Minister for five years (27February 197429March 1979) during Nicolae Ceaușescu's Communist regime.
His father was a Communist Party veteran from Ploiești, who in the early 1920s supported the transformation of the Socialist Party into the Romanian Communist Party (PCR). Mănescu joined the PCR in 1938, while he was a student at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. In 1944, after the 23 August coup d'état, he worked together with Nicolae Ceaușescu, his future brother-in-law, in the Union of Communist Youth. In 1951, Mănescu was appointed as head of the Department of Economics at the University of Bucharest and Director General of the Central Directorate of Statistics.[1] He served as Finance Minister from 1955 until 1957.
In December 1967 he was appointed Chairman of the Economic Council. He was promoted to full membership of the Executive Committee of the PCR in December 1968 and, after holding various positions in the party and government, he became Prime Minister in March 1974, a position he held until 1979, when he retired, reportedly due to ill health.[2] Also in 1974 he became titular member of the Romanian Academy.[3]
Mănescu stayed close to Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena Ceaușescu up until the Romanian Revolution of 1989. He left the Central Committee's building by helicopter together with them on 22 December, though he had to disembark at Snagov due to too much weight in the craft. He was arrested shortly afterward and taken to the airbase at Deveselu, where he was kept in detention until 31 December. Tried in early 1990 together with Emil Bobu, Ion Dincă, and Tudor Postelnicu, Mănescu was sentenced to life in prison for participation in genocide; on appeal, his sentence was reduced to 10 years. He served two years in prison, and was set free on 12 November 1992 due to poor health. Because of his conviction, he was stripped of his membership in the Romanian Academy.[4]
He died in 2009, aged 92,[5] and was buried at Bellu Cemetery in Bucharest.[4]
Mănescu's wife, Maria Munteanu Mănescu, was a well known pediatrician. In December 1973, she was named Vice Chairman of the Romanian Red Cross Society. She was also named a member of the (Romanian) National Council of Women in April 1978. It is not clear if the Mănescus had any children.