site.btaPresident Appoints Anti-Discrimination Commission Members

President Rumen Radev issued decrees appointing members to the Commission for Protection against Discrimination (CPD), the head of state’s press secretariat reported on Friday. The new members are President Radev’s former chef de cabinet Ivo Petkov, former caretaker minister of labour and social policy Lazar Lazarov, ex-CPD directorate chief Nasko Atanasov and human rights law expert Boika Cherneva.

Ivo Petkov was born in 1970 in Istanbul. He holds a degree in law from the University of Sofia. Between 1994 and 2017, he worked as a journalist, including for Bulgarian National Television and international media such as Radio France Internationale and ĽEuropeo magazine. From 2017 to 2019, Petkov served as chef de cabinet during the first term of President Rumen Radev. From 2019 to 2024, he was a Member of the European Parliament.

Lazar Lazarov was born in 1970 in Sofia. He holds a master’s degree in macroeconomics from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia. Since 1995, he has successively held advisory, expert and managerial positions at the National Employment Service (today’s Employment Agency), the Bulgarian Industrial Association, the Economic and Social Council, the National Assembly and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. He has served as deputy minister of labour and social policy (2013-2025, with interruptions) and deputy caretaker prime minister and caretaker minister of labour and social policy (2022-2023).

Nasko Atanasov holds master’s degrees in aviation equipment and transport services, in public administration and management, in administration and law, and in national security protection. He has served as an officer in the Bulgarian Armed Forces and in various departments of the state administration. Between 2011 and 2017, Atanasov headed a directorate at the CPD. He was a CPD member between 2017 and 2025.

Boika Cherneva was born in 1973 in Sofia. She graduated in law from the University of Sofia in 1996 and became a doctor of law in 2009. She has specialized in the field of human rights and police work. She was appointed director of the Interior Ministry Academy in 2014. Cherneva has taught human rights law at the European Police College and the University of National and World Economy. In 2021, she became Dean of the Criminal Law Department at the Law Faculty of the University of National and World Economy.

Friday’s appointments at the CPD came after Elka Bozhova was elected on May 8 to chair the Commission.