Romania’s ruling party strongman Liviu Dragnea began a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence on Monday for corruption as his party grappled with a crushing defeat in the European elections. A court earlier Monday upheld Dragnea’s original sentence, a verdict that will almost certainly remove from public life a man who was widely seen as the puppet master behind the Social Democrats (PSD) and the government they lead. Dragnea, 56, was also a key figure in his party’s push for controversial judicial reforms which have led to clashes with Brussels and have overshadowed Romania’s first-ever EU presidency.
