Rumyana Jeleva’s EU Commissioner Candidacy – a test to Bulgaria and to European Parliament

published on 1/21/10 10:18 AM

In a letter to PM Boyko Borissov, Bulgaria’s EU Commissioner-designate and Foreign Minister Rumyana Jeleva has announced that she resigns from all posts she currently holds. This decision was not a surprise but it happened later than expected, because to a large degree it was the result of the position of the European People’s Party that supported Jeleva until the last moment.

After a week’s debate on Jeleva’s European Commissioner candidacy on behalf of Socialists, Liberals, and Greens in the European Parliament, she decided to withdraw and not allow Bulgaria to turn into an apple of discord in the process of forming the new European Commission. EC President Jose Manuel Barroso has announced that he respects Jeleva’s decision because any future debates would place him in an embarrassing situation.

Jeleva’s withdrawal from the run for European Commissioner has developed dramatically. Initially, a source from the cabinet’s press office announced that her resignation from the post of Foreign Minister had been accepted, but then an explicit refutation by PM Borissov followed. He obviously does not want the change in Bulgaria’s EU Commissioner nominee to cause a replacement in Bulgaria’s cabinet, as well. His desire, however, turned out to be impossible, and only a few hours later, the Parliamentary floor of the GERB ruling party decided to accept Jeleva’s resignation also from the post of Foreign Minister. As Bulgaria’s Vice Premier and Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov clarified, “the government does not need a continuation of such a scandal”.

Bulgaria’s new EU Commissioner nominee is Kristalina Georgieva, vice president of the World Bank. She has an impressive professional biography. She started working at the World Bank in 1993 first serving as Environmental economist for Europe and Central Asia. Later, she took up various managerial posts there, including director of the department on environmental issues, Director for Environment and Social Development in the East Asia and Pacific Region, and Director and Resident Representative for the Russian Federation. In 2007, she assumed responsibilities for the strategies and operations of the World Bank Sustainable Development Network. Kristalina Georgieva is not only the most high-ranking Eastern European employed at the World Bank, but she also has serious ties in Bulgaria. Immediately after the last elections, she was named as a possible choice for the posts of prime minister, vice prime minister, or economy minister. Another important detail of her biography is that her past professional experience largely coincides with the sector the future Bulgarian EU Commissioner will be in charge of – the sector of international co-operation, humanitarian aid and crisis response. Kristalina Georgieva’s confirmation hearing in the EP is scheduled for February 3.

Translated by: Rossitsa Petcova

По публикацията работи: Stoimen Pavlov

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Rumyana Jeleva’s EU Commissioner Candidacy – a test to Bulgaria and to European Parliament

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