Bulgaria presents Two Candidates for European Commissioner - Daniel Laurer and Iliana Ivanova

The Council of Ministers today discusses the proposal of candidates for European Commissioner. Two candidacies were presented, an opportunity provided in Ursula von der Leyen's letter. The two candidates are Daniel Laurer and Iliana Ivanova. Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov told the media after the extraordinary meeting of the government.

Both candidates have very high expertise with many accumulated assets in different experiences. Ivanova has more experience in the European Court of Auditors, Laurer has a lot of experience in innovation, business and as a Bulgarian MP.

"After the vote, we feel that we are presenting two very worthy candidates. From now on, the EC, following its internal procedures and rules, will choose one of them to be the next European Commissioner for Bulgaria until the end of the current mandate," said Denkov.

Daniel Laurer is the candidate that "We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria" proposed for European Commissioner, and Iliana Ivanova is the GERB-SDS candidate for European Commissioner.

The second point from the session of the Council of Ministers was a change in the order for the dividend from the state-owned enterprises, which the government will collect and will be included in the budget, explained Finance Minister Asen Vassilev.

A measure has been adopted to collect 100% of the dividend of state-owned enterprises, he said. By tradition, all hospitals, psychiatric institutions, plumbing companies and the National Company "Industrial Zones" are excluded from the dividend. The decision comes into effect on June 30.

However, there is a peculiarity with the dividend that the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) has to pay. On February 6, 2023, BEH published a public report in which a profit...