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Daniel Daianu (born 30 August 1952, Bucharest) is a Romanian economist, professor and politician. He has been a member of the European Parliament since end of 2007, when he was elected on the National Liberal Party's lists.

He was the Finance Minister of Romania between December 5, 1997 and September 23, 1998, in the governments of Victor Ciorbea and Radu Vasile. He was dismissed because he refused to endorse a controversial deal with Bell Helicopter Textron to purchase 96 AH-1RO Dracula attack helicopters (a variant of AH-1 Cobra), in order to help modernize the armed forces. Dăianu considered that terms of the contract were disadvantageous for the Romanian industry and that the deal was too costly for the Romanian budget at that time.

Between 1992 and 1997, Dăianu was the Chief Economist of the National Bank of Romania. In August 2005, he became President of the Supervision Board of Banca Comercială Română, a position previously held by Sebastian Vlădescu and Florin Georgescu, among others. He resigned this post in December 2007, in order to avoid any conflict of interest with his duties as a member of the European Parliament.

Dăianu was also the President of the European Association for Comparative Economic Studies (EACES), between 2002–2004.

In 1975, he obtained a Master in Economics from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest and, in 1988, a Ph.D.in Economics from the same institution. He held a post-doctoral research position at Harvard University's Russian Research Center, during 1990-1991 and completed Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program in 1994.

Daniel Dăianu is also a professor of public finance, at the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA) in Bucharest. During different periods, he held research positions at the Russian Research Center (Harvard University), the Woodrow Wilson Center (Washington, D.C.), the NATO Defense College (Rome), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Organization for European Cooperation in Europe (OECD). Between 1999 - 2004, he was a professor at the Academy of Economic Studies (ASE) in Bucharest, at the University of California, Berkeley, at the University of California, Los Angeles and at the University of Bologna.

During Nicolae Ceauşescu's communist regime, he worked for the Securitate's Foreign Intelligence Unit (DIE), between 1976 and September 1978. He left DIE in 1978, of his own volition and he became known, in the following decade, for his writings against Ceauşescu's economic policy, which were highlightted on Radio Free Europe (RFE) at the time. In September 2007, the National Council for Analyzing the State Security Department Files (CNSAS) decided that Daniel Dăianu had worked for the External Intelligence Unit solely on economic issues.

Between 1979 and 1990, he was a researcher at the Economic Socialist Institute.

Daniel Dăianu has been a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy since 2001.

He has published several books and his columns appear regularly in Jurnalul Naţional, Ziarul Financiar, Piaţa Financiară, Southeast European Times and European Voice.

In October 2008, Dăianu took position against European banks that receive state aids to get out of the crisis, yet damage emerging European economies through speculation against national currencies.

He was co-rapporteur of the report "Lamfalussy follow-up: Future Structure of Supervision", for the European Parliament.

On May 22, 2008, Daniel Dăianu, together with three former Presidents of the European Commission, nine former Prime Ministers of EU member states and six former Finance / Economy Ministers, co-signed an article with title "Financial Markets Cannot Govern Us" in "Le Monde", in which they anticipated the extent of the economic crisis and talked about its causes.

During the presidential elections of 2009, he was touted as one of possible prime ministers.

Daniel Dăianu was invited to be a fellow of the Warsaw based Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE), in 2010.

He has been a member of the European Council for Foreign Relations (ECFR) since 2011.