Bulgaria's former EU Commissioner Meglena Kuneva has indicated for the first time in a more tangible way that she will run for president in the elections in the fall of 2011.

"If I run for President, my bid will be non-partisan. I haven't sought any party nomination because if I run for head of state I will not be committing to any political party," Kuneva told the Bulgarian National Radio on Monday.

Even though there have been rumors about her running for president for at least a year, she has never provided any definite indication that she will run until her statements on Monday.

She went further by not specifying when she will declared formally her bid but said that she intended to "meet the legal deadlines."

Kuneva explained her failure to confirm her presidential bid early with her hesitancy as to where she will be the most useful.

"I am not evading responsibility, I am just seeking the best post where I will be most useful for my country," she declared.

There have been recent reports that the National Movement for Stability and Prosperity of ex PM and ex Tsar Simeon Saxe-Coburg wanted to nominate Kuneva for president, and that even the Bulgarian Socialist Party leader Sergey Stanishev insisted on supporting her bid – while outgoing President Georgi Parvanov, a former Socialist leader, urged for a leftist candidate.

Media reports on Monday, however, suggest that Kuneva refused to be nominated even by her own political party – the NMSP – so the ex Tsar's party decided to organize an initiative committee for her nomination.

Public opinion polls have indicated that Kuneva can muster substantial support – the way she did as a MEP candidate in the 2009 EP elections – even though her party, the NMSP, even failed to make it to the Bulgarian Parliament at the time.

In some recent interviews, Kuneva's husband – financier Andrey Pramov – has confirmed that his wife will not stay away from "big politics."

In September 2010, Bulgaria's former EU Commissioner in 2007-2010 Meglena Kuneva was appointed as Chair of the Governing Board of the European Policy Center, an independent, not-for-profit think tank committed to European integration.

Kuneva, who was part of the first Barroso Commission, became known for her strong criticism of European banks and the fees they impose on customers, but was also praised for her effectiveness, and particularly for her focus on online protection and revising consumer law.

Upon expiration of her Commissioner's term, Meglena Kuneva was first tipped to be the next head of the Commission's in-house think-tank, the Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA), but was later reported to have been denied the appointment.

In April Kuneva, was appointed a political advisor of Vice President of EC, Siim Kalas. At the end of June the European Commission approved her appointment as a member of the Board of Directors of France's banking group BNP Paribas, which raised concerns on part of Transparency International.

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