The current Vice President, Iliana Yotova, is the new President of Bulgaria, after the Constitutional Court decided today that the powers of the head of state, Rumen Radev, are to be terminated early, due to his resignation.
Yotova is the first woman in the history of Bulgaria to hold the post of President.
According to the Constitution, upon termination of the powers of the head of state, the vice president shall assume the office of president until the end of the term.
On January 19, in an address to the Bulgarian people, Rumen Radev announced that he would resign. “Today, for the last time, I address you as the President of our Bulgaria. I would like to ask for forgiveness first of all. Time has put your trust to the test, so I thank you for your patience. I acknowledge my mistakes, I am aware of what I failed to accomplish. But it is my faith that we will achieve it, that is one of the main motives for my decision," Rumen Radev said then. Rumen Radev and Iliana Yotova took the oath before the National Assembly for their second five-year term on January 19, 2022. They took office on January 22, 2022.
Iliana Yotova - Biography
Iliana Yotova was born on October 24, 1964, according to the website of the Presidency. She graduated from the Ninth French Language High School “Alphonse de Lamartine” and Bulgarian philology at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. She specialized at the French National School of Administration (ENA – École nationale d'administration) and the Center for European Studies, Strasbourg (Centre des Etudes Européennes de Strasbourg).
She worked as a reporter, editor, presenter and director of the “News and Current Affairs” department at BNT from 1990 to 1997.
She was the head of the press center of the National Council of the BSP from 1997 to 2007. She has been a member of the National Council of the BSP from 2000 to 2016. She was elected Deputy Chairman of the Sofia Municipal Council of the BSP in January 2006 and held this position until 2012. In 2012 she was elected as a member of the Executive Bureau of the NS of the BSP. She remained a member until 2016.
Yotova was a Member of Parliament in the 40th National Assembly from 2005 to 2007. At that time, she was also the chairwoman of the Bulgarian delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of Francophonie and the deputy chairwoman of the parliamentary delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). From June 2007, Yotova has been a representative in the European Parliament from the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. During her first term as a MEP, she was a member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE).
During her second term as a MEP (2009 – 2014) Iliana Yotova was Vice-Chairwoman of the Committee on Combating Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering (CRIM); Vice-Chairwoman of the Delegation in the Parliamentary Committee for Association EU – Moldova; Member of the Committee on Fisheries (PECH), of the Committee on Petitions (PETI), of the Delegation in the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly; Deputy Member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and of the Delegation for relations with the MAGHREB countries and the Arab Maghreb Union (DMAG).
Yotova is the author of the first report of the European Parliament on the Black Sea and its fisheries. During her third term in the European Parliament (2014 – 2017), Iliana Yotova was elected Vice-Chairwoman of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and Deputy Member of the Committee on Regional Development (REGI). She is a deputy member of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM). She is Vice-Chairwoman of the EP Delegation to the EU-Montenegro Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee, as well as a member of the EP Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean.
Among the main topics that Yotova works on in her capacity as a MEP are: the fight against terrorism, the protection of personal data, the refugee crisis, the accession of Bulgaria to the Schengen area. She is the author of reports and proposals in European legislation to deal with the migration crisis. In the Committee on Regional Development, she became the author of the first report of the European Parliament on cohesion policy in mountainous regions.
She speaks French. She speaks Russian and English. Married, she has a son.