Ekaterina Zaharieva was approved as European Commissioner with a large majority

Ekaterina Zaharieva will be the Bulgarian representative in the new composition of the European Commission.
Her candidacy received extremely serious support - 7 out of 8 coordinators voted for her to head the "Startups, research and innovation" department.

The vote was between the coordinators of the Committee on Industry, Scientific Research and Energy. Only the extreme left did not support the Bulgarian candidate.

The new composition of the European Commission will be voted in its entirety by the European Parliament at the end of November in Strasbourg, and the Commission will take office on December 1.

Praise for Zaharieva

Ekaterina Zaharieva's presentation during the hearing before the European Parliament garnered a lot of praise, even from political opponents.

"Ekaterina Zaharieva demonstrated preparation and knowledge of the topics during her hearing. In my opinion, the hearing took place in an absolutely normal and constructive tone. Many topics were raised, important for each of the political groups, and I believe that Mrs. Zaharieva was prepared and knew the important issues. Of course, from now on we expect a little more depth in the analysis and concreteness in the policies that will be implemented", stated Tsvetelina Penkova from the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.

She also drew attention to the intention of Ekaterina Zaharieva to increase investments in innovation and scientific research to 3% of the gross domestic product of the member states of the European Union.

"This is basically the big goal that is set for European budgets. There is still much to be desired in terms of investments and support for the sector, and without investments and real support we will not be able to talk about technology and innovation. And they are directly related to the creation of a working and competitive economy. So I still think there is room to invest. Research and development activity must be leading in the European Union, because Bulgaria and many other countries have proven themselves at the conceptual level," Penkova pointed out.

"Zaharieva showed that she was prepared, she did not stand at the hearing with the posture of ``Look how much I have read,'' she answered the questions that were put to her. Accordingly, there is certainly no resistance against what she has shown and against her personal qualities," said MEP Ivaylo Valchev from the Group of European Conservatives and Reformists.

He also commented on the intention of the Bulgarian candidate for European Commissioner to increase investments in scientific research and innovation from 2,3 to 3% of GDP.

"The question is really that Zaharieva should work in close cooperation with other commissioners and act in the name of culture, so that artists can get the right to freedom, without restrictions for ideological correctness," summarized Ivaylo Valchev.

Eva Maydel from EPP defined Zaharieva's department as the department of the future.

"If we want to boost the modernization of our economy, it can be done precisely through innovation, making sure that start-ups that have new, innovative ideas are connected to industry and make our economies work on - fast turnover and thus to have greater economic growth. Maybe it sounds somewhat easy, but it's quite a complex exercise," Meidel said.