Dimitar Abadjiev, who up until two months ago, was a high-ranking official in the opposition centre-right Order, Law and Justice (OLJ) party of Yane Yanev, is the Bulgarian nominee to join the new executive board of the Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH.

The news was announced on March 12 2010 on the website of the state Bulgarian Energy Holding, one of the company's shareholders.

In an interview with private national bTV channel on March 11 2010, Abadjiev said his nomination had nothing to do with his decision to leave OLJ in February 2010.

He held talks about his nomination with Prime Minister Boiko Borissov a few weeks ago. "I myself was surprised by the idea but later found out that it was about a position demanding international experience, which I have," Abadjiev said.  

Up until February 2010, Abadjiev was a vital part of the OLJ that a few months earlier had set a course against the Government of Boiko Borissov.

On February 4 2010, however, Abadjiev surprisingly resigned from all party positions. In an interview with Bulgarian-language 24 Chassa daily, Abadjiev said that his motives were personal. "I don't think that I can be useful to the project (the OLJ) at this stage," he said.

"My role in the OLJ was to help it become part of the European Conservatives' project," Abadjiev said, referring to the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament.

"My job was to get OLJ international support. Now that we have failed to win seats in European Parliament, this possibility is highly limited," he said. Abadjiev topped the OLJ ticket for the June 7 2009 MEPs elections but failed to win a seat. He also failed to win a seat in the Bulgarian Parliament at the July 2009 elections.

The Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH was established in 2004 and is based in Vienna. It is directly owned by the six Nabucco Partners with each of them holding an equal 16.67 per cent share.

The company is responsible for the marketing of the pipeline capacity. It will be the only company in direct contact with the shippers (one-stop-shop - principle), and will operate as an autonomous economic entity on the market, acting independently from its parent companies.

The Nabucco natural gas pipeline is meant to pump Caspian Sea gas into Europe, lessening some of EU’s dependence on Russian supplies, though not eliminating it entirely. It will pass through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria.