Nicoleta Pauliuc

Romanian Senator, National Liberal Party   

Nicoleta Pauliuc is a Romanian senator, elected in 2016 with the National Liberal Party.

She is the President of the Committee for Defence, Public Order, and National Security of the Romanian Senate and Vice-president of the Joint Permanent Commission of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate in the field of national security.

Nicoleta was chosen President of the Liberal Women's Organization on March 31st.

She is also a member of the delegation of the Romanian Parliament to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Her activity has been very intense on two levels: defence and health, with a focus on oncology. As a former cancer patient herself, having struggled with a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, she transposed her experience into laws, adopted in Romania, meant to help both cancer patients and cancer survivors.

The laws initiated by Nicoleta Pauliuc are the following:

Cancer Survivors Law

The first Sunday in June was declared the National Day of Cancer Survivors by a law initiated by Senator Nicoleta Pauliuc, promulgated in January of this year. This day has a double purpose. Firstly, it attracts the Romanian society’s attention to the special needs of cancer survivors, as well as improving the support given to them. Secondly, it is a moment when people with a history of oncological conditions can participate in events that give them the possibility to talk about their past or current suffering. National Cancer Survivors’ Day was celebrated for the first time in Romania in 2022.

Psychological treatment and paid leave for cancer patients and their caretakers

The law grant free psychological treatments for cancer patients, as well as 45 days of paid leave and psychological treatment for the patient’s relatives or caretakers. Each year in which the caretaker receives medical leave for taking care of the cancer patient, the respective person is granted at least one session for psychological evaluation and at least five sessions of psychological counselling. The oncological patient has the same benefits.

The right to be forgotten

It stipulates that, in the event of signing insurance contracts, if the insurance distributor asks the cancer survivor for information and documents to assess the risk for establishing the conditions of the insurance, the former patient has the right not to provide those regarding its oncological condition. This applies to cancer survivors whose oncological protocol concluded 7 years before signing the insurance. In the case of a cancer survivor whose diagnosis was made before the age of eighteen, the term is of 5 years after the conclusion of the oncological protocol.

National Plan to Prevent and Combat Cancer

Nicoleta Pauliuc initiated and transposed the European Cancer Plan into national legislation, together with her colleagues in the Parliament. The patient’s medical history, the free genetic tests, the quick access to innovative medicines, the rapid diagnosis that allows initiating treatment in the shortest time possible- all these are important help to cancer patients.

Personalized medicine

This law project was adopted by both Chambers of the Parliament and is to be promulgated by the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis. This bill aims at giving the patient and their doctors the possibility that, after specific genetic tests, to choose a treatment is personalized for the respective patient, one that could be different than the national treatment scheme for that disease.

All of Nicoleta Pauliuc’s work in the health sphere could be summoned under one theme: Laws for life, portraying her desire to implement legislative change, for the sake of real benefits in the life of citizens.

On 4 May,  ECO Chief Executive Mike Morrisey had the honour of welcoming Romanian Senator Nicoleta Pauliuc, a new member of the National & European Parliamentarians for Cancer Action, at their offices in Brussels.

They talked about cancer Survivorship & Quality of Life issues, as well as the need of improving HPV vaccination rates in Romania and the PROTECT-EUROPE project.

European Cancer Organisation President-Elect, Csaba Dégi, CEO Mike Morrissey, and Nicoleta Pauliuc met at the Romanian Parliament on 22 June and engaged in important discussions regarding our HPV work in Romania.

During the meeting, various strategies and initiatives aimed at raising awareness about HPV and promoting gender-neutral vaccination were discussed.  Another significant topic of the discussion was the remarkable success achieved by Nicoleta Pauliuc and her tireless efforts in reducing financial discrimination against cancer survivors. This accomplishment strongly resonated with the principles of the #righttobeforgotten movement, which advocates for equal treatment and support for all individuals who have triumphed over cancer.