Bulgarian EU Commissioner Zaharieva: The portfolio that Bulgaria received is one of the portfolios of the future

"The portfolio that Bulgaria received is one of the portfolios of the future,” the Bulgarian Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva said on September 17.

"First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for the trust and nomination of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and to the Bulgarian government for this trust. I am aware of the responsibility, it is great. The portfolio that Bulgaria has received is one of the portfolios of the future, extremely important and at the heart of the current and the next Commission. In the political guidelines that von der Leyen gave at the beginning of her mandate - a special place is given to innovation, to research, which we need to strengthen in order to make our economy more competitive, i.e. this is directly related to increasing the competitiveness of the EU and the European economy," Zaharieva said.

The President of the Commission met with the heads of the political groups in the European Parliament and briefed MEPs on her priorities.

“Allow me to speak first about the content that defines the structure. Together, we have defined core priorities. They are built around prosperity, security, democracy. The backdrop is: competitiveness in the twin transition, and they are very much intertwined and cross-cutting.

Strengthening our tech-sovereignty, security and democracy. Building a competitive, decarbonised and circular economy, with a fair transition for all. Designing a bold industrial strategy with innovation and investment at its heart," said Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.

Ursula Von Der Leyen has not been able to achieve a gender balance in the Commission, 60% of its membership is male, but of the six Executive Vice-presidents, four are women.

Here’s the full list of portfolios:

Ursula von der Leyen (Germany): European Commission President

Teresa Ribera (Spain): Executive Vice-President for the Clean, Just and Competitive Transition. Acts as competition commissioner.

Henna Virkkunen (Finland): Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy

Stéphane Séjourné (France): Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy

Roxana Mînzatu (Romania): Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and Preparedness

Raffaele Fitto (Italy): Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms

Kaja Kallas (Estonia): High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy

Magnus Brunner (Austria): Internal Affairs and Migration

Hadja Lahbib (Belgium): Preparedness, Crisis Management. Equality

Ekaterina Zaharieva (Bulgaria): Startups, Research and Innovation

Dubravka Šuica (Croatia): Mediterranean. Responsible for relations with Mediterranean neighbors in Middle East and North Africa.

Costas Kadis (Cyprus): Fisheries and Oceans

Jozef Síkela (Czech Republic): International Partnerships. This covers international development spending and the EU’s rival to China’s “Belt and Road Initiative.”

Dan Jørgensen (Denmark): Energy and Housing

Apostolos Tzitzikostas (Greece): Sustainable Transport and Tourism

Olivér Várhelyi (Hungary): Health and Animal Welfare

Michael McGrath (Ireland): Democracy, Justice and Rule of Law

Valdis Dombrovskis (Latvia): Economy and Productivity, Implementation and Simplification

Andrius Kubilius (Lithuania): Defense and Space

Christophe Hansen (Luxembourg): Agriculture and Food

Glenn Micallef (Malta): Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport

Wopke Hoekstra (Netherlands): Climate, Net-Zero and Clean Growth

Piotr Serafin (Poland): Budget, Anti-fraud, Public Administrations

Maria Luís Albuquerque (Portugal): Financial Services

Maroš Šefčovič (Slovakia): Trade and Economic Security, Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency

Marta Kos (Slovenia): Enlargement

Jessika Roswall (Sweden): Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy