European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen must resolve the internal Bulgarian political disputes about who should replace former EU Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, the government in Sofia said.
Bulgaria will offer von der Leyen two candidates to replace Gabriel, who left the Commission at the beginning of May to become part of the new Bulgarian government, supported by GERB and the pro-European PP-DB coalition.
Former prime minister Boyko Borissov’s GERB party will most likely be able to push for a commissioner in the current commission, sources told EURACTIV Bulgaria. GERB, which is part of the European People’s Party, is expected to nominate a woman for the position of European Commissioner, which is the preferred option for Ursula von der Leyen.
As EURACTIV Bulgaria first reported, the first official nomination from Sofia will be the former Minister of Innovation, Daniel Laurer as confirmed by one of the leaders of the PP-DB, former prime minister Kiril Petkov.
The GERB candidate will most likely be Eva Maydell, who is a third-term MEP. The other name mentioned by GERB is that of Liliana Pavlova, who is the vice-president of the European Investment Bank and former minister of regional development, sources told EURACTIV Bulgaria.
Von der Leyen will decide which of the two will be proposed for approval by the European Parliament. Given von der Leyen’s nomination pledge to maintain gender balance among EU commissioners, GERB nominating a woman for the post and the party’s EPP affiliation will almost certainly tip the pendulum in favour of Borissov’s party.
The nomination of a Bulgarian candidate for European Commissioner created tension between GERB-SDS and PP-DB, whose support the government relies on. The two coalitions failed to agree on a common candidate.
(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg)
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