Kristalina Georgieva, Bulgaria’s candidate to serve on the "Barroso II" European Commission with the international co-operation, humanitarian aid and crisis response portfolio, faces a three-hour confirmation hearing in front of the European Parliament’s development committee on February 3 2010.
 
The hearing is scheduled to start at 1.30pm Bulgarian time.
 
While there is no guarantee she will be given an uncritical passage by the committee, there is widespread confidence that Georgieva will acquit herself well, given her professional background including as a senior World Bank official, and will join the rest of the new European Commission in being sworn into office on February 10.
 
Georgieva is Bulgaria’s replacement nominee for former foreign minister Roumyana Zheleva, who withdrew her candidacy as a commissioner after Zheleva’s widely-criticised performance in her January 12 hearing.
 
Meanwhile, Meglena Kouneva, who become Bulgaria’s first European Commissioner after the country joined the EU in January 2007, has been named in media reports as set to be named by European Commission President Jose Barroso to head the bloc’s think-tank, the Bureau of European Policy Advisers.
 
Kouneva, who will step down as consumer protection commissioner when the current Barroso Commission leaves office, is seen as highly regarded by Barroso, who earlier reportedly tried to persuade Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov to nominate her for a second term.
 
The Bureau of European Policy Advisers reports to the European Commission President and serves the Commission as a whole, providing policy advice on political, economic and societal issues.