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A scandal from six years ago, involving the alleged sale of Bulgarian passports, could jeopardize Ekaterina Zaharieva's candidacy for European Commissioner, Politico reports.
The "We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria" (WCC-DB) coalition, whose candidate Julian Popov was previously rejected by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is now looking to take advantage of the situation. Bulgarian MEP Nikola Minchev, from WCC-DB and the liberal group "Renew Europe," stated that the allegations surrounding Zaharieva could undermine her candidacy, especially given Von der Leyen's focus on the rule of law.
Politico referenced a 2018 report from Euractiv, in which a former migration department employee accused Zaharieva of being involved in a scheme, during her tenure as justice minister from 2015 to 2017, that granted Bulgarian citizenship in exchange for money. The accuser, Katya Mateva, who headed the Directorate for Bulgarian Citizenship at the Ministry of Justice, also implicated other senior politicians, including Deputy Prime Minister Krasimir Karakachanov and MEP Andrey Kovachev from GERB and the European People's Party (EPP). Zaharieva was nominated for the European Commissioner position by GERB.
Zaharieva denied the accusations, and no legal consequences followed. The case mainly revolves around Petar Kharalampiev, former head of the Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, who was accused of involvement in the scheme from July 2017 until his arrest in October 2018. By that time, Zaharieva had been serving as foreign minister since May 2017, which raised questions about her involvement.
Politico suggests that Von der Leyen could replace Zaharieva with Julian Popov, as Bulgaria was the only country to nominate both a male and female candidate, as per the European Commission's request. However, doing so might reduce the number of women in the future Commission. Slovenia, meanwhile, has promoted Marta Kos to replace Tomas Vesel, who voluntarily withdrew his candidacy.
Ursula von der Leyen is expected to announce the composition of the next European Commission tomorrow morning in the European Parliament.
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