German publicist Jurgen Roth, who has authored a book and articles on Bulgaria’s political and underground life, has come out in defence of Bulgarian Foreign Minister Roumyana Zheleva and her nomination to be European Commissioner for international co-operation, humanitarian aid and emergency response.

In an January 7 2010 interview with the Bulgarian desk of Deutsche Welle, Roth said that Zheleva had become a target of a slander campaign aimed to discredit her ahead of January 12 2010 when she will appear before a committee of the European Parliament at a confirmation hearing.

"As far as I know her, she appears competent and probably will be a good commissioner," Roth said. He described earlier reports by Die Welt that Zheleva was married to a gangster as baseless.

"It is true that being a EU commissioner is a high position, but let's take a look at the Austrian nominee, for example, and the allegations of money laundering against him. If you like, look at the German candidate who is also does not have the best reputation," Roth said.

"As for whether she is "a gangster's wife" this is aimed at Zheleva's husband. In Germany, such claims would have been groundless because there is no proof. What we know about her husband is that he works for a Bulgarian bank which is part of the Varna-based business group TIM," he said.

However, in the same interview, Roth also calls TIM "a mafia structure, the most powerful mafia organisation in Bulgaria at the moment".

A day before Roth's interview was published, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov also defended Zheleva's nomination.

In an interview with bTV, Borissov called Die Welt's allegations "a complete lie". "He husband works in a bank which has been licensed by Bulgarian National Bank and the European Central Bank. As far as I understood he is head of the bank's tellers or something," Borissov said.