At VDL’s request, Bulgaria nominates Zaharieva to be European Commissioner
At the request of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Bulgaria’s caretaker government is nominating former foreign minister Ekaterina Zaharieva as its sole candidate to be the country’s next European Commissioner, the Bulgarian government information service said on September 9.
Bulgaria’s caretaker government initially had nominated two candidates to be European Commissioner in the next Von der Leyen Commission: Zaharieva, from Boiko Borissov’s GERB-UDF coalition, and conservation and energy expert Julian Popov, from the reformist We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria coalition.
Bulgaria was reported to be alone among EU member states in meeting the requirement from Von der Leyen – popularly referred to as VDL – in nominating for initial selection a woman and a man, for Von der Leyen to shortlist.
VDL is expected to announce on September 11 her proposed Commission, which is subject to confirmation hearings in the European Parliament.
The Bulgarian government said that caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev had on September 11 sent to Von der Leyen a letter finalising the procedure for nominating a candidate European Commissioner from Bulgaria.
The statement said that Von der Leyen, after interviewing the two candidates, had settled on Zaharieva. It did not say why.
Borissov’s GERB-UDF is from the same EU conservative political family as Von der Leyen.
There have been various media reports about which portfolio in the next European Commission will be allocated to Bulgaria. Clarity on the matter is pending and remains unconfirmed.
(Photo: government.bg)
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