Assoc. Prof. Rosen Karadimov, nominated by the BSP parliamentary group, was elected Chairman of the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC). The new leadership of the antimonopoly body was voted on today by the National Assembly.
The choice of Karadimov was motivated by his undisputed authority as a lawyer, with a 34-year academic career at Sofia University and significant management experience as a member of the people's parliament in the 7th Supreme Soviet and the 36th National Assembly, Deputy Chairman of the Sofia Municipal Council, Advisor to Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Bulgarian Development Bank and Minister of Innovation and Growth.
In the race for the CPC, Karadimov received broad public support from nationally representative employer organizations, the two national trade unions and business associations from key economic sectors. These are the representatives of the country's real economy and the government's social partners in the tripartite cooperation council. His candidacy was supported by the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions and Confederations of Trade Unions "Podkrepa", as well as the Association "Bulgarian Defense Industry - acad. Stefan Vodenicharov" and the National Sheep and Goat Breeding Association (NOKA).
Since 2022, Rosen Karadimov has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Bulgarian Bank. Under his leadership, the bank has been transformed into a public and transparent institution, as certified by a report by "Transparency International". The bank has become a powerful market instrument for supporting state policies in strategic sectors such as transport, energy, the military-industrial complex, social and health infrastructure, and the investment programs of municipalities.
As Acting Minister of Innovation and Growth in both cabinets of Dimitar Glavchev, Karadimov focused on the country's reindustrialization policy. During his mandate, 11 industrial zones were financed with 207 million leva under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan, and businesses also gained access to European financing of 1.4 billion leva.
„My first task is to propose urgent preventive measures by the end of 2025 against a possible speculative increase in prices before the introduction of the euro. Monitoring with price indicators will also be introduced after the adoption of the euro. Other priorities are increasing transparency in the work of the commission and introducing public control, preparing sectoral analyses of risky markets – food, medicines, fuels“, explained Karadimov after the vote. According to him, the CPC should take a more active role in supporting the state economic policy and in limiting market concentration and unfair competition.