Rumiana Jeleva | |
---|---|
Румяна Желева | |
Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
In office 27 July 2009 – 27 January 2010 | |
Prime Minister | Boyko Borisov |
Preceded by | Ivailo Kalfin |
Succeeded by | Nickolay Mladenov |
Personal details | |
Born | Nova Zagora, Bulgaria | 18 April 1969
Political party | Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria |
Alma mater | Sofia University Magdeburg University |
Rumiana Ruseva Jeleva (Bulgarian: Румяна Русева Желева; born 18 April 1969) was Bulgaria's minister of foreign affairs (July 2009 – January 2010), the third woman to hold this office after Irina Bokova and Nadezhda Mihailova. Jeleva was a key figure in the "GERB" political party which won the 2009 parliamentary elections. From 2007 to 2009, she served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and headed the Bulgarian delegation in the EPP Group. She was nominated by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov as Commissioner in the "Barroso II Commission" and was affiliated with the European People's Party (EPP).[1][2] However, an article in the German newspaper Die Welt accused her husband of links with the Russian mafia.[3]
Jeleva holds a B.A. in sociology from the University of Sofia (1995) and a PhD in sociology from Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg (2003).[4]