Two European magazines on two consecutive days awarded European Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kouneva their respective annual awards for European politicians.

First up, on December 2 2008 were the EVawards for Europeans of the Year, awarded by the magazine European Voice, where she was declared European of the Year.

"Meglena Kouneva showed that consumer interests helps to make the EU more popular among its citizens. Our readers rewarded her efforts by voted her European of the Year," European Voice editor Dana Spinant was quoted as saying by Mediapool.bg.

Nominees for the EVawards are selected by European Voice senior editors, together with a panel of advisors.

At the ceremony, which took place on December 2 at the Palais de la Bourse in Brussels, along with Kouneva were awarded Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, as EU Official of the Year 2008 and Most Valued European; Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France, as National Politician of the Year 2008; and European Commissioner for Environment Stavros Dimas as Commissioner of the Year.

This same title, this time presented by the magazine European Agenda and called the European Agenda Awards 2008, Kouneva was to receive a day later at a ceremony at The Renaissance Hotel, also in Belgium's capital.

Here, Kouneva was the only nominee in the category Commissioner of the Year.

The European Agenda Awards are handed out annually in nine different categories, including Regional Representation of the Year, Consultancy of the Year, Campaign of the Year and Think Tank of the Year, each with five candidates for this year's awards. The category Political Journalist of the Year saw three candidates shortlisted this year.

Nominations in the different categories are made by readers of European Agenda and are further discussed by a jury, this year headed by Alfredo Acebal, chairman of the executive board of the European Telecommunications Network (ETNO). The jury made its selection of the final recipients of the European Agenda Award 2008 in meetings in Brussels in October.

Most of those winners will be announced at the award ceremony on December 3 2008, with the exception of two categories, both reserved for European politicians, where the battle had been fought. Kouneva will take home the statuette for Commissioner of the Year and Hans-Gert Pöttering, president of the European Parliament, will be named Politician of the Year.

According to a media statement from the representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria, sent out the day before the awards ceremony, Kouneva had been "nominated considering the exceptional achievements in her activities as commissioner for consumer protection, given also the shortest period elapsed since her election".