Ivailo Kalfin has been elected Executive Director of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), the Bulgarian Labour and Social Policy Ministry said in a press release on Friday. Kalfin’s bid, which was backed by the Ministry on behalf of the Bulgarian Government, was approved by a convincing majority at a meeting of the Eurofound Management Board on March 5. Eurofound, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is a EU agency providing knowledge to help develop social, employment and work-related policies. It researches social, employment and work-related topics, communicates the results and conclusions of its research to EU and national policymakers to help them make policies to improve living and working conditions, develop employment policies and promote social dialogue, and facilitates knowledge sharing among and between people involved in this area at EU level and nationally. Kalfin, 57, is a qualified economist, having graduated from Sofia’s University of National and World Economy and earning a master’s degree in International Banking from the Loughborough University in the UK. He was Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister in the Sergei Stanishev Cabinet (2005-2009), Member of the European Parliament (2009-2014), and Deputy Prime Minister for Demographic and Social Policy and Minister of Labour and Social Policy in the second Boyko Borissov Cabinet (2014-2016). He was elected to three Bulgarian parliaments. Kalfin ran for President as a candidate of the Bulgarian Socialist Party in 2011, when he reached the second round of voting, and as an independent candidate in 2016. Speaks English, French, Russian and Spanish. Married, with one daughter.