By Georgi Gotev
On 8 July Ursula von der Leyen tweeted that back in Brussels, the city where she was born, she met her “wonderful – and very European – transition team for the first time”. Netherlands, Germany and Bulgaria.
At that time those who saw the tweet thought the Bulgarian national is Mina Andreeva, the number two in Juncker’s Spokesperson’s service.
But now this website has the confirmation that the Bulgarian connection is another official of Bulgarian nationality: Jivka Petkova (also known by her maiden name Staneva).
Many remember her as a key person in the team of Meglena Kuneva, when she was chief negotiator for Bulgaria’s EU accession. She is known as hard-working and discrete. As of 16 May Petkova was appointed a Principal Adviser for Corporate and Political Communication in DG COMM.
The Commission issued a press release, specifying that “Ms Petkova joined the Commission from the Bulgarian public administration in 2007 where she was leading the EU accession negotiations’ team at the Prime Minister’s office. She was the Deputy Head of Cabinet of the first Bulgarian Commissioner in charge of consumer affairs, Ms Meglena Kuneva, and also worked in the private office of High Representative / Vice-President Ms Catherine Ashton and in the EU’s diplomatic service. She is currently a Head of Unit in the “Spokesperson’s Service” in DG COMM.”
According to our information, van der Leyen intends to keep Petkova beyond the time when she uses the services of a few Commission employees, in her capacity of Commissioner-designate and now Commissioner-elect. So she will be the Bulgarian connection in the new Commission President’s team. We wish her success!