site.btaMilena Milotinova Elected Director General of Bulgarian National Television

The Council for Electronic Media (CEM) on Friday elected Milena Milotinova as Director General of the Bulgarian National Television (BNT). She received the votes of CEM Chair Simona Veleva and members Kadrinka Kadrinova and Gabriela Naplatanova. Galina Georgieva and Velkova voted against.

Milena Milotinova was born on 10 September 1968 in Sofia. She holds degrees in Bulgarian Philology and in English Language and Literature from St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, and later completed a master’s degree in Journalism at the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication. She began her journalism career at BNT in 1990 as a reporter and, from 1992, became an anchor of the main evening news bulletin. She has undertaken professional training with international media outlets including the BBC and NBC. Milotinova is the author of more than ten documentary films, among them Chronicle of a National Betrayal. In 2000, she was ranked among the top ten television presenters in BNT’s 40-year history.

From 2001 to 2005, she served as a member of parliament in the 39th National Assembly representing the National Movement for Stability and Progress. During that period, she chaired the Media Committee and was a member of the Bulgarian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

She currently hosts the author’s programme Brussels 1 on Bulgaria On Air, where she provides analysis of European and international affairs.

The procedure for selecting a new Director General of BNT had been suspended in 2025 because of court proceedings. The case concluded on February 13, 2026, with a ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court, which annulled a decision of the Sofia Regional Administrative Court to halt the enforcement of CEM’s earlier decision on the BNT leadership. At the same session, CEM members admitted all candidates to the second stage of the procedure, involving the review of their development concepts and documentation. They decided that this stage would take place on February 19, with the selected candidate to be announced on February 20.

In November 2025, the Sofia Regional Administrative Court had suspended the renewed procedure for choosing a Director General. Five candidates had applied for the post with the Council for Electronic Media: Svilena Dimitrova, Emil Koshlukov, Sasho Yovkov, Nevena Andonova, and Milena Milotinova. The new head of the public broadcaster had initially been expected to be chosen on October 16, but the procedure was frozen following the court ruling.

The competition for BNT's top post has been ongoing since 2022 when Koshlukov's previous term in office ended. As no candidate has received the necessary votes since then, Koshlukov remained in office as acting Director General. A number of court appeals surrounded the election process.