"Politico": Ekaterina Zaharieva is Von der Leyen's sure choice for Bulgarian EU Commissioner

Ekaterina Zaharieva is European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's choice for Bulgarian EU Commissioner, Politico reports. According to the newspaper, she will be given the portfolio of crisis management and humanitarian aid, BGNES reports.

"Bulgaria is not in the race for any of the key positions. Although Bulgaria has put forward two names - a man and a woman - Zaharieva will almost certainly get the job as Von der Leyen needs more women to have a gender-balanced Commission," the newspaper stressed.

BGNES reminds that Ekaterina Zaharieva entered big politics with the first GERB government when she was deputy minister of regional development. She later moved to the Presidency after Rosen Plevneliev became head of state. She was twice a minister in the caretaker cabinets appointed by Plevneliev, including the Ministry of Regional Development.

In Boyko Borissov's third government, Zaharieva was the head of Bulgarian diplomacy for four years.

The other candidate that Dimitar Glavchev's caretaker cabinet submitted to Brussels is that of Julian Popov, nominated by PP-DB. | BGNES