Bulgaria: Borissov names European Commissioner Gabriel as candidate PM
GERB-UDF coalition leader Boiko Borissov told the National Assembly on May 10 that the coalition’s candidate Prime Minister is Maria Gabriel, the current European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.
As the largest parliamentary group, GERB-UDF will be the first to receive a mandate to seek to form a government. President Roumen Radev has announced that he will hand over this mandate on May 15.
Borissov said that his group would contact the other parliamentary groups for talks.
“Because as a sitting European Commissioner who was also supposed to attend the G7 meeting, there are legal procedures that she has to go through, so our parliamentary group in their contact groups will contact you so that she can to hold the meetings and assume her responsibilities as a candidate for Prime Minister,” Borissov said.
Gabriel, 43, has a bachelor’s degree in the Bulgarian and French languages from Paisii Hilendarski Plovdiv University, a Certificate in Political Science from IEP Institute for Political Studies, Bordeaux and a master’s degree in Comparative Politics and International Relations from the Academy for Political Science, Bordeaux.
She was a member of the European Parliament, EPP/GERB (Citizens for European development of Bulgaria) from 2009 to 2017. In the Jean-Claude Juncker European Commission, she had the portfolio of digital economy and society. She has been First Vice-President of the European People’s Party (EPP) since November 2019.
Borissov repeatedly has said that his first preference is a coalition government based on a deal with Parliament’s second-largest group, We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria, which WCC-DB has rejected. He has said that failing a deal with WCC-DB, he will seek support from the remaining parliamentary groups, with cabinet seats for those groups that vote in favour of a government proposed by GERB-UDF. This cabinet may be made up of experts or political figures.
(Photo: EC Audiovisual Service)
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