Sergey Stanishev

Prime Minister, Bulgaria

(BBC - 04/09/05; AFO - 16/08/05; Sofia News Agency - 15/08/05; Southeast Europe Online; Bulgaria Online; Wikipedia)

Sergey Stanishev was appointed prime minister on 16 August 2005 after his Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) won the country's parliamentary elections on 25 June. He replaced Simeon Saxe-Coburg in the post.

Stanishev was born on 5 May 1966 in Kherson, Ukraine. He graduated in history from the Moscow State University in 1989 and obtained his PhD in 1994. He specialised in political science at the Moscow School for Political Studies in 1998 and was a visiting fellow in international relations at the London School of Economics between 1999 and 2000.

From 1994 to 1995, Stanishev worked as a freelance journalist.

After joining the BSP's foreign affairs department as staff member in 1995, Stanishev served as chief of foreign policy and international relations for the party from 1996 to 2001. Meanwhile, he was elected member of the BSP Supreme Council and a member of the party's Executive Bureau in 2000 and a member of parliament for the city of Ruse in 2001. At the BSP's 44th Congress in December 2001, Stanishev was elected chairman of the Supreme Council of the BSP and of its parliamentary group, replacing Georgi Parvanov, who won the November 2001 presidential election. He has been a member of the presidency of the Party of European Socialists since April 2004.

After eight years in opposition, the BSP won the parliamentary elections on 25 June 2005, but having failed to muster an outright majority to run the country on its own, the party had to seek partners for a coalition government. Eventually, almost two months after the vote, the BSP reached a coalition agreement with the centrist National Movement for Simeon II (NMS-II) and the predominantly ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) on 15 August. A day later, Stanishev was confirmed as Bulgaria's new prime minister.

After signing the coalition agreement with the leaders of the NMS-II and the MRF, Stanishev listed "European integration, economic growth and social responsibility" as his top priorities. "Our goal is to meet the expectations of Bulgarians, to give Bulgaria the possibility of joining the EU and to improve living standards," he added.

Stanishev assumed the prime minister post at a critical time for Bulgaria -- less than 18 months before its entry into the EU, scheduled for January 2007. That date, however, hinges on the implementation of a number of reforms.

Stanishev is not married, but has been living for a long time with prominent Bulgarian journalist Elena Yoncheva.