The Council of Ministers is about to approve the candidacies for the Bulgarian European Commissioner at its meeting today, dariknews.bg reported. There are seven nominations that the parties represented in the parliament broadcasted.
Former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva is the proposal of the largest political force GERB-SDS. “Ekaterina Zaharieva - GERB's candidacy for European Commissioner, is a good proposal. "GERB has won the European elections and we rightly broadcast the strongest candidate," said party leader Boyko Borisov. He defined their nomination as a person with a very broad profile, good CV and career whom Brussels knows.
PP-DB proposed Julian Popov, whom they consider to be one of the most influential voices in Europe on the subject of “Energy”. “We rely on him as a non-partisan candidate and a highly competent expert. At a time of political crisis, the promotion of a non-party figure with the status of a world expert is the way to show that the Bulgarian interest is greater than the narrowly partisan one, the coalition stated.
The chairman of DPS Delyan Peevski proposed the candidacy of Iskra Mihailova. “In times of emerging populism, anxiety and political instability in Europe and the world, it is necessary for Bulgaria to be represented by politicians with the categorical and clear position of Euro-Atlanticists with categorical and Euro-Atlantic values, which qualities Iskra Mihailova has and will defend in the European Commission”, states Peevski.
The founder of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, Viktor Papazov, is the nominee of "Vazrazhdane". “We are raising a person who will protect only national interests if elected. Viktor Papazov is a proven professional and a person with economic experience, said Tsoncho Ganev, but emphasized that from the "Revival" they have no illusions that he will be elected.
Only BSP nominated two candidates – Dragomir Stoynev and MEP Tsvetelina Penkova, with her explicitly stating that she is a proposal if Bulgaria gets the "Energy" department.
“There is such a people” nominated the former deputy foreign minister Velislava Petrova, who is currently the chief program director at the International Center for Future Generations in Brussels, as European Commissioner from Bulgaria. According to Trifonov's party, our country will most likely receive the same portfolio, and Petrova is a candidate with a strong expert profile.
On two consecutive days, the Acting Prime Minister received on “Dondukov 1“ all candidates.
On the eve of the election, President Rumen Radev urged Glavchev to choose two women in order to have real competition. He recalled that Ursula von der Leyen had asked for two candidates, one of whom must be a woman. “In this situation, if we send a man and a woman, there is absolutely no competition – the woman will be chosen immediately. "Let's send two women, because the man has no chance," the president urged.
And the PP-DB insisted that the election of the European Commissioner correspond to Bulgaria's pro-European policy. “The future European Commissioner of Bulgaria must be elected on the basis of a reasoned assessment of the adequate political and expert representation of Bulgaria in decision-making in key areas for Europe such as Energy, Climate, Regional Policy and Education,”, the coalition states.
It is still not clear what the portfolio of the Bulgarian European Commissioner will be. There was talk in the media that our country could get a Regional Policy, which is a very strong position in the Commission. Greece and Croatia are also interested in him.