Bulgaria names new foreign minister

Rumiana Jeleva was replaced as Bulgaria’s foreign minister on Wednesday night amid mounting embarrassment in Sofia over her failed candidacy as the country’s European Commissioner.

Nikolay Mladenov, defence minister, would take over the foreign affairs portfolio, a government official said.

Boyko Borissov, prime minister, had refused to accept Ms Jeleva’s resignation, which came at the same time as she withdrew her nomination for the post of humanitarian and crisis response commissioner.

His decision was reversed after a lengthy meeting on Wednesday of the parliamentary group of the governing right-of-centre GERB party.

Tsvetan Tsvetanov, deputy prime minister, said, “Ms Jeleva’s wish to leave the cabinet has been respected.”

Ms Jeleva withdrew her nomination hours before a parliamentary committee was due to vote on her candidacy.

After a weak performance at a committee hearing, she faced strong criticism from leftwingers, centrists and Greens in the European parliament over her competence for the job.

Ms Jeleva resigned as an MEP last July to join Mr Boykov’s cabinet as foreign minister.

“I am not thinking about my political future at all,” she told Bulgarian media after her resignation was accepted.

Mr Mladenov, 37, also joined the cabinet in July. His international experience includes working as a consultant to the World Bank and as an adviser on defence and foreign policy issues to the Iraqi parliament.

Bulgaria has nominated Kristalina Georgieva, an environmental economist and World Bank vice president for the European commissioner’s post.

General Anyo Angelov, defence undersecretary and commander of Bulgaria’s armed forces reserve, takes over as defence minister, a government official said.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.

Source:t.com/

Bulgaria supports Macedonia to join EU, NATO: PM

SOFIA, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Bulgaria supports and will keep on doing this for Macedonia's bid to join the European Union and NATO, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said here Monday after meeting with his visiting Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski.

At a joint press conference, the Bulgarian prime minister also pointed out that the support was not unconditional, but based on clear principles and obligations.

There are EU criteria, which should be fulfilled, and one of them is good neighborly relations, Borisov noted. So the Bulgarian side insists on no tolerance of the language of hatred, nor of groups that create problems in Bulgaria, and a refusal to allow state media to incite hatred.

Apart from neighbors, Bulgaria and Macedonia are also sister nations, which should help each other wherever necessary. For this reason, Bulgaria categorically supported the lifting of visa requirements for Macedonian nationals and this would be a fact as of Dec. 19, Borisov added.

The Bulgarian prime minister said the two sides concluded that the two countries should look for the details and events uniting rather than dividing them.

Macedonian Prime Minister Gruevski said his country keeps on fulfilling all requirements for the country's accession to the EU.

"When all the countries in the Balkans become members of the EU, citizens from our region will be able to travel and work wherever they want," said Gruevski, defining that as a huge step forward.

He underlined that history issues should be left to historians, while the statesmen should focus on the present and future, to work in support of the further Europeanization of both countries and towards a better living standard for all citizens.

:Article Source:xinhuanet.com