The European Commission is enriched by another woman, after Bulgaria gave up its male candidate to satisfy the demands of President Ursula von der Leyen. But the proposed name has already sparked a controversy with old accusations of selling passports to migrants resurfacing. Ekaterina Zaharieva, former Justice and Foreign Minister of Sofia, has been officially nominated by Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev as the aspiring EU Commissioner for the nation, taking the name of Julian Popov, former Environment Minister, off the table.
The appointment
Bulgaria had initially proposed two candidates following von der Leyen’s request, but the Commission President then explicitly asked President Glavchev to nominate Zaharieva as the sole candidate. But then the controversy began. This is because the politician from the Bulgarian party GERB, which is part of the EPP, was involved in a scandal in 2018 related to the sale of Bulgarian passports.
As Euractiv reported at the time, a former immigration official accused the woman, while she was serving as justice minister, of participating in a scam conducted by other high-ranking Bulgarian politicians to distribute citizenships in exchange for money. Zaharieva denied the accusations and there was no judicial follow-up, but the story was used by her opponents to criticize her.
The accusations
“Gender equality is important, but even more important are President von der Leyen’s priorities and Popov was clearly the right choice,” said Nikola Minchev, MEP and member of the Bulgarian anti-corruption party Let’s Continue the Change. Minchev argued that Zaharieva’s name was tarnished by the scandal of illegally selling Bulgarian passports. “By selling Bulgarian passports, EU citizenship was also sold to people who seek to undermine our union,” he said.
“Popov is a staunch supporter of Ukraine, while Zaharieva was involved in a gas pipeline project that facilitated Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” he added, referring to the TurkStream pipeline, which carries Russian gas across the Black Sea via Bulgaria to the Western Balkans and Central Europe.
The accusation of passport selling was never formalized, but it came from the whistleblower, Katya Mateva, former director of the Citizenship Council, who reported the whole thing to Euractiv, adding that she was fired for not wanting to take part in the crime. The scandal then faded over time with the exit from power of VMRO, a nationalist party behind the alleged scheme and to which Zaharieva was close. Mateva claimed that despite the strong evidence she provided, the State Agency for National Security (DANS) had “covered up” the case.
The new Commission
Ursula von der Leyen is expected to announce the full list of her next team and their portfolios to the European Parliament next week. There are currently only 10 women in the 26-member team. The presentation was scheduled for this week, but was then postponed at the last minute to next week following a delay in the Slovenian nomination, which must go through parliament. After the presentation of the team, the commissioners will have to undergo hearings with MEPs and then obtain the confidence of the plenary. Bulgaria holds the record for commissioners rejected by the MEP, and we will see whether Zaharieva will help maintain this record or not.
