Who Is Who: Bulgaria's New EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva

Politics » BULGARIA IN EU | February 3, 2010, Wednesday // 11:00
Who Is Who: Bulgaria New EC Nominee Kristalina Georgieva: Who Is Who: Bulgaria's New EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva Kristalina Georgieva, Vice President of the World Bank,is the only Eastern European holding a high-level position at the WB.Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Kristalina Georgieva, Vice President of the World Bank, has become Bulgaria's second ever EU Commissioner, in charge of the humanitarian aid portfolio of the second Barroso Commission.

At the end of February 2008, Kristalina Georgieva, a Bulgarian-born economist, was appointed by the World Bank Board of Executive Directors as WB Vice President and Corporate Secretary.

She was the personal choice of the WB President, Robert Zoellik, who selected her as his Deputy.

Georgieva has worked for the WB since 1993. She is the only Eastern European holding a high-level position at the World Bank.

Prior to this position, she was the WB Director of Strategy and Network Operations for the Sustainable Development Network, Country Director for Russia, Director of the Environment Department, in the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Vice Presidency, and Chair of the Environment Sector Board of the World Bank Group.

Georgieva has been a major factor in shaping the World Bank's environmental strategy and policies; and responsible for the overall performance of the Bank's environmental portfolio, setting sector priorities, promoting the environmental sustainability of operations in other World Bank sectors, and realizing the World Bank's role as an implementing agency for the Global Environment Facility and Montreal Protocol.

Prior to her appointment as Director of Environment, she also served as Environment Sector Manager for the East Asia and Pacific Region of the World Bank, and Senior Environmental Economist in the Environment Division of the Europe and Central Asia Region.

Before coming to the Bank, Georgieva was Associate Professor of Economics at the University of National and World Economy in Sofia, Bulgaria. She has held positions as a Visiting Scholar or Guest Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, London School of Economics, Moscow State University, the Australian National University, and the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. She has consulted on environmental policy for the Bulgarian Government and international companies operating in Central and Eastern Europe.

Since 2001, Dr. Georgieva has been appointed a Guest Professor of Tshinghua University in China. She is currently a Board Member of the Institute for Sustainable Communities. She has more than 80 publications on environmental policy and sustainable development. Dr. Georgieva holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Economics and a M.A. in Political Economy and Sociology, both from the Sofia University of National and World Economy.

Over the summer of 2009, various sources claimed that she was going to quit her job at the WB in order to become a Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister in the Bulgarian ruling GERB party cabinet of PM Boyko Borisov. She is said to have declined the invitation.

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Tags: Greens, ALDE, PES, EPP, Commissioner-designate, hearing, EP hearing, EU Commissioner, EP, Rumiana Jeleva, Jose Manuel Barroso, Kristalina Georgieva

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