site.btaFinancial Supervision Commission Leader Elected Despite Procedural Objections

Financial Supervision Commission Leader Elected Despite Procedural Objections

Sofia, July 28 (BTA) - The National Assembly on Thursday elected Karina Karaivanova-Ganozova to chair the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) despite procedural objections raised by the left wing. She was proposed for the job by the ruling GERB party and there were no other candidates. The vote was 139-24, with 11 abstentions. After the election, Karaivanova was sworn in.

Karina Karaivanova-Ganozova studied economics at Sofia University and holds a master's degree in finance and banking. She finished a number of post-graduate courses in economics and management in Bulgaria and abroad. She has spent most of her career as an expert at the Ministry of Finance, where she served as Deputy Minister in 2012.

Presenting Karaivanova to the National Assembly, Budget and Finance Committee Chair Menda Stoyanova said Karaivanova has undoubtedly proven her professionalism over the years. She has been in senior positions for more than 10 years and her field of responsibility has included the stock exchange, capital markets and the pension system reform.

On Wednesday, the press office of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) said that members of the BSP-Left Bulgaria parliamentary group have petitioned the European Securities and Markets Authority and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority against what they describe as "unlawful actions" in the procedure for electing the FSC leader. The petitioners claim that the rules for nominating candidates for FSC Chairperson were adopted in a non-transparent manner, without clear reasoning and in gross contravention of the National Assembly rules of procedure, and this was apparently done in order to elect a "politically convenient" person. "This endangers the independence of the Commission," they say.

Last week, the FSC election rules were also challenged before Bulgaria's Constitutional Court by BSP-Left Bulgaria, the ABV and two independent MPs.