Former foreign minister named Bulgaria’s new ambassador to Turkey
Nadezhda Neynski, who was Bulgaria’s foreign minister in the 1997/2001 Ivan Kostov cabinet, was nominated by the cabinet on May 27 as the country’s new ambassador in Ankara.
It was during her time in office as foreign minister that, in 2001, Bulgaria was granted exemption from the European Union’s Schengen visa system, a major psychological boost for the country that was to join the EU six years later.
As Nadezhda Mihailova, she headed the centre-right Union of Democratic Forces from 2002 to 2005, after Kostov stepped down following the UDF’s thorough defeat in the 2001 parliamentary elections.
She was a four-time member of the National Assembly and from 2009 to 2014 was a member of the European Parliament.
Neynski was vice-president of the EU-wide European People’s Party from 1999 to 2006.
The cabinet recommended her appointment to President Rossen Plevneliev. It is expected that Neynski will take up her post as ambassador to Turkey soon, given that the previous ambassador’s term of office has expired.
