site.btaPM Glavchev Presents Ekaterina Zaharieva as Bulgaria's Candidate for EU Commissioner

Caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev presented Ekaterina Zaharieva as Bulgaria's candidate for EU commissioner in response to a letter from European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen, the Government press centre said here on Monday.

The EC has asked Glavchev to officially name Ekaterina Zaharieva as the sole Bulgarian candidate, the press service added. At the end of August, the caretaker Prime Minister announced his cabinet's decision to nominate Zaharieva and Julian Popov. The EC held talks with the two before making its decision.

Zaharieva was nominated by GERB-UDF, Julian Popov - by Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria.

"Having met with all the candidates nominated by the parliamentary groups, I found that they are at an extremely high level. In this regard, I thank the parliamentary groups for their attitude to this case. Our decision was a difficult one. We have looked at many additional criteria that may have an impact. We have mainly adhered to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the letter from EC President Ursula von der Leyen and the biographies of the candidates. For this reason we took this decision, fully convinced of its rightness", Glavchev argued.