Mariya Gabriel is Bulgaria's Nomination for EU Commissioner

The Bulgarian government nominated MEP and Vice-Chair of the EPP Group, Mariya Gabriel, as the Bulgarian EU Commissioner. The nomination was officially announced by Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva on 10^th of May.

The decision was made at the first regular meeting of the cabinet after the third Borissov government took office.

Maria Gabriel was born on 20^th of May, 1979 in Gotse Delchev. In 1997, he graduated from "Petar Beron" Language School in Kyustendil, and in 2001 obtained a Bachelor's degree in "Bulgarian and French Philology" at Plovdiv University "Paisii Hilendarski".

She continued her studies at the Institute of Political Studies in Bordeaux, France where she studied international relations, history of European institutions, political sociology, comparative politics. She has a Master’s degree in Comparative Politics and International Relations from the Post-Graduate School of Political Science of Bordeaux (2003).

From 2004 to 2008 she was a teaching and research assistant at the Institute of Political Studies of Bordeaux. Her teaching activities are related to EU decision-making, political sociology, and international relations. Gabriel was part of the team in 2 international projects under the European Programme Equal 2004 - 2008 "Values and Economics - Equality in Professional Activity and the Social and Solidarity Economy" and the International Research Programme "Parliamentary Representation at National and European Level" headed by Olivier Costa.

In 2012, she married Francois Gabriel, who was then part of the team of European People’s Party president Joseph Daul. Their son Jean-Edward was born in 2015.

From 2012 to 2014, she is the EPP Coordinator of the European Parliament's Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality.

On 19^th of October, 2012, Maria Gabriel was elected as Vice-President of EPP Women.

In June 2013, she was elected "MEP of the Year" in the "Gender Equality" category.

In 2014, Mariya Gabriel became a Member of the European Parliament for a second mandate. Since then she is Head of the Bulgarian EPP Delegation and Vice-President of the EPP Group responsible for relations with Mediterranean countries.

She has been awarded the EACA Care Prize in 2015 for her commitment to violence against women and to gender equality.

In 2016, she received the "MEP of the Year" award in the "Development" category and the "San Carlos" Order of the Colombian Government for merit to the country in the field of international relations and diplomacy.

Mariya Gabriel has devoted her work to several priority areas, such as the coherence of external and internal EU policies, migration, EU visa policy, relations with Africa and Middle East and women rights.

A central place in the extra-parliamentary activities of Maria Gabriel take initiatives, related to young people. She has established six European information centres in Bulgaria - two in Sofia, Blagoevgrad, Rousse, Bourgas and Sliven. She organises training activities, presentations, campaigns, aiming to familiarise the youth with the benefits of Bulgaria’s membership in the EU. Among the extra-parliamentary activities of Mariya Gabriel are the annual school contests related to European affairs, as well as the national campaign ‘Reader of the Year’.

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