site.btaHearing of Bulgaria's EU Commissioner-designate Ekaterina Zaharieva to Take Place on Tuesday

The hearing of Ekaterina Zaharieva, Bulgaria’s candidate for EU Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, will take place in the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday, November 5.

If approved, she will be one of 11 women in the new European Commission, whose president will again be Ursula von der Leyen.

Zaharieva's hearing will be on the same day as that of the Austrian and Danish candidates - Magnus Brunner (European People's Party) and Dan Jorgensen (Socialists and Democrats), who are in charge of Home Affairs and Migration and Energy and Housing. Also to be heard on Tuesday will be Ireland's Michael McGrath (Renew Europe), who is in charge of Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law.

The hearing will consist of a 15-minute speech by Zaharieva, followed by MEP questions. Zaharieva will comment on the development of the portfolio, legislative and other initiatives, as well as the EU budget for research and innovation policies.
Two committees will test the Bulgarian candidate, the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, and the Committee on Culture and Education. 

Ekaterina Zaharieva has identified the development of the next research framework programmeas her main priority and set a 3% of EU GDP target for investment in research and development (R&D). This will be done both by increasing EU funding and by mobilizing private capital and developing public-private partnerships.

Zaharieva also pledged to propose a new European Research Area Act, which would underpin the free movement of researchers, scientific knowledge and technology, as well as a European Innovation Act to ensure the growth of startups and help them tackle legal barriers and administrative burdens. 

Zaharieva will also focus on a strategy for the use of artificial intelligence in science, support for a faster green and digital transition and the development of a European life sciences strategy that will also cover biotechnology. The Bulgarian Commissioner-designate has committed to a regulation on the utilization of new super materials as well as an action plan to promote women in science, innovation and start-ups.

Experts in Brussels have identified research and innovation as a key policy area for tackling global challenges such as health, climate change and biodiversity loss, and as particularly important for optimizing EU preparedness and response to crises.