| Sergei Dmitrievich Stanishev Сергей Дмитриевич Станишев |
|
|---|---|
| Prime Minister of Bulgaria | |
| In office 17 August 2005 – 27 July 2009 |
|
| President | Georgi Parvanov |
| Deputy | Emel Etem Toshkova Ivaylo Kalfin Meglena Plugchieva Daniel Vulchev |
| Preceded by | Simeon Sakskoburggotski |
| Succeeded by | Boyko Borisov |
| President of the Party of European Socialists | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 24 November 2011 |
|
| Preceded by | Poul Nyrup Rasmussen |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 May 1966 Kherson, Soviet Union (now Ukraine) |
| Political party | Bulgarian Socialist Party |
Sergei Dmitrievich Stanishev (Bulgarian: Сергей Дмитриевич Станишев, born May 5, 1966) is a Bulgarian politician who was Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2005 to 2009; currently he is Chairman of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and Interim President of the Party of European Socialists[1]. He was born in Kherson, Ukrainian SSR, which explains the Russian ending of his patronymic.
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A native of Kherson, Ukraine he descended from a poor Bulgarian family from Kilkis, Macedonia (Greece). His father Dimitar Stanishev was a member of the Bulgarian Communist Party Politburo.
Stanishev attended Moscow State University, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1989, and his PhD in 1994, both in the field of history. His doctoral thesis was entitled “The system of service promotion of high ranking officials in Russia and its evolution during the second half of XIX century”. In 1998, he specialized in political sciences at Moscow School of political studies. He was a visiting fellow in international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1999-2000. He also worked as a freelance journalist. In 1995 he became a staff member in the Foreign Affairs Department of the BSP. He was Chief of Foreign Policy and International Relations for the BSP from 1996 to 2001. In May 2000 he was elected a Member of the BSP Supreme Council and Member of the Executive Bureau. In June 2001, he was elected as a member of the Bulgarian National Assembly from the region of Ruse. Sergei Stanishev was a Soviet citizen and then Russian until 1996, when he acquired the Bulgarian citizenship and renounced his Russian one.
In December 2001 Stanishev was elected Chairman of the BSP at the party's Congress, and also Chairman of the Parliamentary Group of the Coalition for Bulgaria following the resignation of the former bearer of these positions Georgi Parvanov after his victory in the Presidential election in 2001. Since April 2004 Stanishev has also been a member of the presidency of the Party of European Socialists. Even though, at the beginning, older party members regarded him with suspicion due to his lack of experience, Stanishev has enjoyed considerable public approval mainly because of his great intellectual skills and his successful efforts to modernise the BSP.
In the general election of June 25, 2005, Stanishev was re-elected to the National Assembly, this time for a seat in Burgas. Under his leadership the Coalition for Bulgaria (a coalition dominated by the BSP) won 31% of the votes. Stanishev said that the next government "should be led by the party which won most votes in the elections." On 20 July, after nearly a month of political uncertainty, Stanishev agreed to attempt to form a Cabinet. On July 27, 2005 the Bulgarian Parliament chose him as the new Prime Minister in a coalition government with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. The vote was 120 to 119. However, the parliament voted against Stanishev's proposed Cabinet by 119 to 117 votes.
This was followed by another two weeks of political deadlock. Finally on August 15 Stanishev was able to form a three-party grand coalition with the party of outgoing Prime Minister Simeon Sakskoburggotski and with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, a Turkish minority party. Stanishev said the coalition's priorities would be "European integration, social responsibility and economic growth." He was elected Prime Minister by the Bulgarian parliament on August 16 with 168 in favour and 67 against. On August 17, 2005, with an official ceremony on 1 Dondukov Boulevard, Sergey Stanishev took office as Prime Minister.
Sergei Stanishev is an avid pro-EU politician who is credited with reforming Bulgaria to the extent that he managed to steer his country to be among the last group of countries which joined the EU. The ex-Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev had said Bulgaria's EU entrance was the final fall of the Berlin Wall for his nation. EU President Jose' Manuel Barroso had hailed Bulgarian Prime Minister Stanishev for having made enough progress for Bulgaria to join the union.
The European Commission's report on Bulgaria and Romania's accession had confirmed that after seven years of talks, Bulgaria and Romania were able to take on the rights and obligations of EU membership. Reading the report, Mr Barroso said the two nations' entry would be a "historic achievement".
"Bulgaria and Romania have carried out an extraordinary reform process and they have gone through a remarkable transformation," he said.[2]
In June 2008 Stanishev drew criticism from human rights advocates for his remarks regarding Bulgaria's first gay pride parade; the Prime Minister said he did not approve of "the manifestation and demonstration of such orientations."[3]
Also in June 2008 The Guardian published an article highly critical of planned real estate development in a pristine seacoast area under EU environmental protection. Sergei Stanishev's brother, Georgi Stanishev, is the Bulgarian partner of Foster and Partners, the developer behind the controversial project.[4]
In March 2009, New Europe published the heading 'Barroso backs Stanishev'. Stanishev received the full support of European Commissions President Jose Manuel Barroso, concerning the improvement of the cooperation with the European Commission and the enhancement of the administrative capacity. Prime Minister Stanishev was on a working visit to Brussels and met with President Barroso, as well as European Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs and Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Joaquin Almunia.
Later in June 2009, Sergei Stanishev supported Jose' Manuel Barroso for a second term as EU Commission President.
Stanishev, the second-youngest chairman of the BSP, is an unconventional politician. Although not married, he has been living for a long time with prominent journalist Elena Yoncheva. In 2002 he amazed party members when he came to a gathering at Buzludzha on a motorcycle with a rock-style jacket that had a label on the back saying: "If you are reading this, Elena must have fallen off on the way." Stanishev is an active Internet user. He joined the Internet Society - Bulgaria on April 22, 2001, and immediately following his election as leader of the Socialist Party in 2001, he had an ICQ-chat with hundreds of users.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Simeon Sakskoburggotski |
Prime Minister of Bulgaria 2005–2009 |
Succeeded by Boyko Borisov |
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