Dear Mr Prime Minister

Please accept my resignation from all positions I currently hold so that you can take the necessary actions to withdraw my candidacy as Bulgaria's European Commissioner-designate.

After European Commission and European Parliament lawyers both came up with statements confirming the absence of any conflict of interest I might have, as well as confirming the accuracy of the data I declared in my financial interests declaration, I can say that I consider the serious allegations against me during my European Parliament hearing, including that of lying, as false.

Since 2007 all the declarations that I have filed, in my capacity as a Member of the European Parliament, Bulgaria's European Commissioner-designate and as a taxpayer, have been public. All details of my professional career are also well known. In this respect anyone interested in these details could have checked the relevant information and in the event of doubt, inform Bulgaria's authorities.

Given the negative campaign against me which has been going on for the past three months, right from the start when my candidacy as Bulgaria's European Commissioner-designate was announced, with the purpose of discrediting me, my only wish has been to deny the notion spread in the media and the direct accusations levelled against me of having broken Bulgarian laws and the European Commission's code of conduct.

I have presented EC and EP lawyers, as well as Bulgaria's Justice Ministry, with all documents regarding my participation in private companies and organisations, without exception. I have also provided all documents stating my withdrawal from these companies which is why I deservingly accept the fact that my name has been cleared.

I am embittered to say that discussions about allegations that I lied and concealed conflicts of interest dominated my hearing at the European Parliament on January 12 2010.

According to me, this hearing is (meant to be) a democratic procedure aimed at checking candidates' readiness to take their job.

On January 19 2010, the development committee is to vote on my performance. Given the prejudiced behaviour of the majority of the committee members during the hearing, the direct accusations I got from members of the Greens and the Liberals (which started months ago in the media) and the biased way Eva Joly presided over the hearing, I dare to have doubts about how this vote on January 19 2010 will take place.

The claims regarding my incompetence started spreading months before my hearing, and after the hearing itself, these claims were supported by unfair means such as "unofficial statement" and "preliminary assessment" etc.

Because I do not believe I will receive an objective and unbiased assessment, I give Prime Minister Boiko Borissov the chance to offer EC president José Manuel Barroso another Bulgarian candidate European Commissioner.

I want to thank all those in Bulgaria who voted for me in two successive MEP elections and who supported me in these difficult months and days. I express my deepest gratitude to the European People's Party, its group in the EP and personally to Joseph Daul for their strong support for me and their fight for justice in this case.

Roumyana Zheleva