site.btaGERB Nominates Iliana Ivanova for EU Commissioner

GERB announced Wednesday that it has nominated Iliana Ivanova for a Bulgarian member of the European Commission. Ivanova has been with the European Court of Auditors since 2022.

As he presented the nomination to reporters in Parliament, GERB leader Boyko Borissov said that she is a "very familiar face in Brussels and highly competent". "We had several other worthy candidates but the party chose to stand behind Iliana Ivanova," Borissov added.

The announcement comes a day after Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria said that they put forward the nomination of Daniel Lorer for the position of Bulgarian member of the European Commission.

The job has been vacant since Mariya Garbiel, the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth between 2019 and 2023, resigned earlier in June to be able to take a position in the Bulgarian government.  

Asked whether the nomination for the EC position could cause tension between GERB and Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria, Borissov said that "they don't have a political family" and that the commissioner should be nominated by the winner in the parliamentary elections, which is GERB-UDF.

"The European Commission will decide. I believe we have the better candidate," he added.

Several days ago the European Commission said that it expects Bulgaria to nominate a woman for the position to keep the gender balance among the commissioners.