The portfolio that Ekaterina Zaharieva receives it is not a surprise for Bulgaria, however, it is shortened with education and youth. Our Commissioner will now have two directorates-general at his disposal to support him, whereas the previous ones had three each.
This was commented in the Euronews Primetime studio by the former head of the EC representation in Bulgaria Zinaida Zlatanova.
We had no expectations, at least we hadn't announced anything publicly. Fantasmagorical assumptions such as energy, regional politics were circulated, which were baseless and given to completely different countries. My explanation for the portfolio we received is that there was an expectation in Brussels that Iliana Ivanova would continue as European Commissioner, as she performed well, very quickly won the trust of her colleagues. Perhaps this spring is meant for her to continue the good way she started.
According to Zinaida Zlatanova, the “Startup, innovation and research” not “tailored“ for Ekaterina Zaharieva, since she has competencies in completely different areas. Undoubtedly, Bulgaria could insist on a department with a larger portfolio, but the countries that received strategically important departments with many resources are countries in which there is political stability.