Stanishev, Commissioner Georgieva 'Could Get' Foreign Affairs Office

Politics » BULGARIA IN EU | July 3, 2014, Thursday // 09:39
Bulgaria: Stanishev, Commissioner Georgieva 'Could Get' Foreign Affairs Office Kristalina Georgieva is a likely candidate for one of Europe's top jobs, the French journalist Nicolas Gros-Verheyde believes. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria has a chance to obtain the position of foreign policy chief in the EU Commission, an analysis by a French journalist shows.

Nicolas Gros-Verheyde, who has a number of articles on European affairs, foreign and security policy, believes Kristalina Georgieva, who is the outgoing Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aida and Crisis Response, would be a fine successor to Catherine Ashton.

Her name is also popular among European politicians as a person likely to become the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, as the office is fully titled.

Being a candidate from a country located in the middle between the East and the Mediterranean, Georgieva could embody the "syncretism of what European politics has to be - turned to the South and the East at the same time," Gros-Verheyde believes.

He cites discussions among MEPs when saying that "smaller" countries now have the chance to receive the portfolio as the UK has become isolated after Prime Minister's David Cameron on conservative EU Commission President nominee Jean-Claude Juncker.

Verheyde adds that Georgieva "has the advantage of being modest in its approach, but also determined," a feature he calls "the most important quality of a High Representative [for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy]".

In his words, she also "meets most of the criteria" to become a top diplomat.

Some Bulgarian media, however, see another name as more likely to take the post.

According to daily 24 Chasa, the re-election of Martin Schulz as European Parliament President enforces the positions of socialist leader Sergey Stanishev as president of the Party of European Socialists (PES).

It reminds that Stanishev was also pointed to lead talks with the European People's Party (EPP) in Parliament on the future European policies.

Stanishev, who resigned as a Bulgarian lawmaker in end-July to become MEP, is also reported to look as a plausible candidate in the view of his colleagues within the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).

His chances for the foreign affairs office could be what explains the fact that he is still not elected to any other top position, 24 Chasa quotes MPs as saying without revealing their names.

Stanishev earlier described himself as a "serious political candidacy in terms of both expertise and political weight".

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Tags: Nicolas Gros-Verheyde, Kristalina Georgieva, Sergey Stanishev, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, foreign policy, EU Commission, EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, PES, BSP, European Parliament President, Martin Schulz

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