Bulgaria to nominate MEP Mariya Gabriel as commissioner

Mariya Gabriel is a two-term MEP and has been backed by the EPP.

Bulgaria is poised to nominate MEP Mariya Gabriel to replace Kristalina Georgieva on the European Commission.

The online edition of Dnevnik reported the coming nomination Tuesday and a government source confirmed the planned nomination to POLITICO.

Gabriel would say only that there have been no talks with her regarding such a nomination.

Gabriel, a member of Bulgaria’s ruling GERB party, is Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s favored candidate for the post. The European People’s Party MEP would be the long-awaited replacement for former digital commissioner Günther Oettinger. Juncker spoke with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov by phone last week about the nomination, a source with knowledge of the phone call said. She accompanied Parliament’s EEP Chairman Manfred Weber on a trip to Bulgaria in March that included a trip to see Borisov and party meetings in several cities.

Gabriel would work for Digital Vice President Andrus Ansip, who has been handling the digital portfolio since Oettinger left the post in January. A source familiar with the thinking behind Gabriel’s candidacy suggested she would be expected to oversee relations with Parliament.

She is not a household name in Bulgaria. Gabriel has been elected twice in the EP as a member of GERB, and since the elections in 2014 has been a deputy-chairman of the EPP group.

Gabriel is vice chair of the center-right European People’s Party and member of the Civil Liberties Committee, where she has focused her attention on issues involving visa regimes. She has also done work on gender equality and foreign affairs. Her husband François Gabriel was a former staffer for EPP group leader Joseph Daul and now works for EP President Antonio Tajani.

Georgieva resigned from the Commission in October.

Others discussed for the post include former Commissioner Meglena Kuneva and ex-foreign minister and MEP Ivailo Kalfin.