Elections 2009 - Top MEP Candidates

Nadezhda Mihaylova

Biography

Nadezhda Mihaylova was born on August 9, 1962 in Sofia.

She graduated from the French Language High School in Sofia with a Spanish language profile. In 1985, Mihaylova graduated with a MA in literature from Sofia University "St. Kliment of Ohrid".

She also has a Certificate for Accomplished Program for Foreign Policy and Public Relations from the US Congress, and a Senior Managers in Government Certificate from Harvard University.

Before 1989, Mihaylova worked as a free-lance journalist, and a translator of Spanish poetry and English literature (more than 3,000 published verses and 3 books).

Mihaylova began her political career in the Liberal Party. During the campaign of the November 1991 Parliamentary Elections, she was the head of the press center of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), which at the time was a wide umbrella organization of various anti-communist political formations.

After the elections, she was appointed the spokeswoman for the UDF government of Filip Dimitrov (1991-1992), and the head of the government press center.

In December 1994, Mihaylova was elected a MP on the UDF ticket, and served as a deputy in the UDF right-wing opposition until the adjournment of the 37th Parliament in January 1997. In May 1995, she was elected Deputy Chair of the UDF.

In the April 1997 Parliamentary Elections, Mihaylova was elected an MP on the UDF ticket once again but in June of that year she was appointed the Foreign Minister in the UDF government of Ivan Kostov.

Mihaylova was Bulgaria's Foreign Minister at the time when the country was invited to start EU accession negotiations as well as during the Kosovo Crisis in 1999. Much of Bulgaria's efforts for integration with NATO and the EU took place during her term as Foreign Minister.

In 1999-2006, Mihaylova served as a Deputy Chair of the European People's Party to which the UDF was admitted in 1998.

In the April 2001 Parliamentary Elections, Mihaylova was elected a MP from the UDF again; however, the UDF party and its rightist coalition lost the elections to the NMSS (NMSP) of the former Tsar Simeon Saxe-Coburg, and remained in opposition.

In March 2002, Mihaylova was elected Chair of the UDF after the former Prime Minister Ivan Kostov stepped down after the elections defeat. Over the next several years, the Union of Democratic Forces and its wider coalition, the United Democratic Forces, disintegrated with key movements and leaders leaving most notably, Ivan Kostov who went on to found the Democrats for Strong Bulgaria party, and the former Prime Minister and Sofia Mayor, Stefan Sofiyanski.

In 2005, Mihaylova lost the UDF Chair position to the former Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov.

In the June 2005 Parliamentary Elections, Mihaylova was elected a MP on the UDF ticket. In 2007, she was became the Chair of the Union of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Bulgaria, and the Vice-President of the Union of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises at the European People's Party.

In 2008, Mihaylova was awarded the highest medal of France, L?gion d'Honneur, for her contribution to the development of the bilateral relations and common European cause.

In May 2009, Mihaylova was selected as the No. 1 candidate for the 2009 European Elections on the ticket of the "Blue Coalition" - a coalition of the UDF, and the DSB party of former PM Ivan Kostov.

In 1983, Nadezhda Mihaylova married her husband, Kamen Mihaylov. The two have two daughters. Mihaylova divorced with her husband in 2006.

Media reports have accused Mihaylova of political patronage most notably with respect to murky privatization deals in which in 1998 her husband acquired the "Avtotransserviz" company including the garages of the former Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party.

Media reports have also described Mihaylova's daughters as embarrassment over their unsatisfactory performance in the elite boarding schools in Switzerland where they were sent to study.

Electoral Performance
December 1994 - elected a MP on the Union of Democratic Forces ticket; served in 37th Bulgarian Parliament
April 1997 - elected a MP on the UDF ticket; did not serve as a MP as she became Foreign Minister
June 2001 - elected a MP on the UDF ticket; served in the 39th Bulgarian Parliament
June 2005 - elected a MP on the UDF ticket; served in the 40th Bulgarian Parliament

Public Service Record
1991-1992 - Spokesperson of the UDF government of PM Filip Dimitrov
1994-1997 - MP from the UDF
1997-2001 - Minister of Foreign Affairs
2001-2005 - MP from the UDF
2005-2009 - MP from the UDF





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