site.btaBulgaria to Defend Kristalina Georgieva's Bid for EU Foreign Policy Chief at Upcoming European Council

Sofia, August 27 (BTA) - At the upcoming Extraordinary European Council, Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev will defend the bid of Kristalina Georgieva for the post of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. A decision to this effect was made at Wednesday's meeting of Bulgaria's Council of Ministers which approved the country's official position for the European Council meeting, the Government Information Service said.

Georgieva has been European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response since February 9, 2010.

On August 30, 2014, EU heads of state and government are expected to nominate the members of the next European Commission, the new President of the European Council and the new EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

The High Representative is elected by the European Council by qualified majority vote with the consent of the President of the European Commission, the press release recalled.

Kristalina Ivanova Georgieva is a Bulgarian economist and educator, a European Commissioner from Bulgaria and an expert in sustainable development. She was Vice President of the World Bank between March 2008 and February 2010. She sits on the Board of Trustees at the University of National and World Economy in Sofia and holds an associa in the university's Economics Department.

On November 30, 2010, ten months after taking office as European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, Georgieva was named Commissioner of the Year and European of the Year by the influential European Voice newspaper. She received the honours for her role in managing the humanitarian disasters in Haiti and Pakistan.