Sergei Stanishev

Chairmanship of the Bulgarian Socialist Party

In December 2001 Stanishev was elected Chairman of the BSP at the party's Congress, and also Chairman of the Parliamentary Group of the Coalition for Bulgaria following the resignation of the previous holder of these positions, Georgi Parvanov, after his victory in the 2001 presidential election. Since April 2004 Stanishev has also been a member of the presidency of the Party of European Socialists. Even though, at the beginning, older party members regarded him with suspicion due to his lack of experience,^[6] Stanishev has enjoyed considerable public approval mainly because of his successful efforts to modernise the BSP.

Prime minister

For more information on cabinet formation and composition, see Stanishev Government.

In the general election of June 25, 2005, Stanishev was re-elected to the National Assembly, this time for a seat in Burgas. Under his leadership the Coalition for Bulgaria (a coalition dominated by the BSP) won 31% of the votes. Stanishev said that the next government "should be led by the party which won most votes in the elections." On 20 July, after nearly a month of political uncertainty, Stanishev agreed to attempt to form a Cabinet. On July 27, 2005 the Bulgarian Parliament chose him as the new Prime Minister in a coalition government, led by the BSP and National Movement Simeon II in a partnership with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. The vote was 120 to 119. However, the parliament voted against Stanishev's proposed Cabinet by 119 to 117 votes.

This was followed by another two weeks of political deadlock. Finally, on August 15, Stanishev was able to form a three-party grand coalition with the party of outgoing Prime Minister Simeon Sakskoburggotski and with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, a Turkish minority party. Stanishev said the coalition's priorities would be "European integration, social responsibility and economic growth." He was elected Prime Minister by the Bulgarian parliament on August 16 with 168 in favour and 67 against. On August 17, 2005, with an official ceremony on 1 Dondukov Boulevard, Sergei Stanishev took office as Prime Minister.

Sergei Stanishev is an avid pro-EU politician who is credited with reforming Bulgaria to the extent that he managed to steer his country to be among the last group of countries which joined the EU. Stanishev said Bulgaria's entrance to the EU was the final fall of the Berlin Wall for his nation, while EU President Jose Manuel Barroso hailed Bulgaria for having "gone through a remarkable transformation" in order to join.^[7]

The European Commission's report on Bulgaria and Romania's accession had confirmed that after seven years of talks, Bulgaria and Romania were able to take on the rights and obligations of EU membership. Reading the report, Barroso said the two nations' entry would be a "historic achievement".

In June 2008 Stanishev drew criticism from human rights advocates for his remarks regarding Bulgaria's first gay pride parade; the Prime Minister said he did not approve of "the manifestation and demonstration of such orientations."^[8]

Also in June 2008 The Guardian published an article highly critical of planned real estate development in a pristine seacoast area under EU environmental protection. Sergei Stanishev's brother, Georgi Stanishev, is the Bulgarian partner of Foster and Partners, the developer behind the controversial project.^[9]

In March 2009, New Europe published the heading 'Barroso backs Stanishev'. Stanishev received the full support of European Commissions President Jose Manuel Barroso concerning the improvement of the cooperation with the European Commission and the enhancement of the administrative capacity. Prime Minister Stanishev was on a working visit to Brussels and met with President Barroso, as well as European Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs and Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Joaquin Almunia.^[10]

Later in June 2009, Sergei Stanishev supported Jose Manuel Barroso for a second term as EU Commission President.^[11]

President of the Party of European Socialists (PES)

Stanishev took over the PES leadership as Interim President in late 2011 after his predecessor, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, stepped down from his post. In September 2012, at the 9th PES Congress, Sergei Stanishev was elected (with 91.3% of the votes) as President of PES for a full two-year term. He was the only candidate for the post.

On June 11, 2015,^[12] he was re-elected after his rival, Enrique Barón Crespo, withdrew from the race. According to him, his victory margin was 69.5% to 16.5%, with 13.3% abstaining.^[13]

Later career

At the 2014 European parliament election, Stanishev was elected as Member of the European Parliament for Bulgaria, placing second on the BSP party list.

In early July 2014, Stanishev announced that he would step down as leader of the BSP. On July 27, at the BSP's 48th congress, incumbent chairperson of the National Assembly Mihail Mikov was elected to succeed Stanishev as party chair.^[14]

Scandal Hochegger

In March 2012, scandalous Austrian lobbyist Peter Hochegger was found to have received nearly €1.5 M from the former three-way coalition government for a dubious campaign aimed at boosting Bulgaria's image abroad. A report indicated that a part of the sum paid to Hochegger's company had returned to the PR agency owned by Monika Yanova, wife of Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev. Hochegger made headlines in Bulgaria after it emerged that he had lobbied for Bulgaria's EU accession in exchange for a fee of €1.5 M under two contracts from 2006 and 2008 signed during the term in office of the government headed by Stanishev. The Viennese Regional Criminal Court sentenced Hochegger to two and a half years in prison.^[15]

European elections project scandal

A public relations firm led by Stanishev’s wife, Monika Stanisheva, won a €60,000 contract for a project to the European elections in Bulgaria. MEPs from the EPP have rang the alarm bell an "obvious" conflict of interest involving some of the most prominent figures in the European socialist family. The project consists of a website explaining the functions of the European Parliament to a Bulgarian audience. According to experts, quoted by the Bulgarian press, the website is built on open source software and contains information copy-pasted from the EU institutions own websites. The contract will be investigated by the Budgets Committee of the European Parliament. Stanishev defended his wife saying that she was working on similar projects before they got married in 2013. He attacked his opponents by asking if they, "suggest that she should stop working?". Stanisheva has announced that she was returning the down payment of €29,679.93.^[16]

Opinion on Sarafovo terrorist act

On February 5, 2013 the ministry of interior announced that it had "a well-founded assumption" that the terrorists who carried out the Sarafovo terrorist act were linked to the terrorist organization Hezbollah, following the results of their investigation. Sergei Stanishev criticized the government's implication as poorly founded and imperiling national security.

Criminal prosecution for lost documents

Sergei Stanishev faced a court on 18 March 2014 in the so-called "lost documents" case,^[17] which many observers and Stanishev himself^[18] have claimed as based on pure political grounds. In a written statement, he stated that "In Bulgaria it is clear to everyone that the case against me is political."^[12]

He was charged with losing 7 classified documents - 3 from the State Agency for National Security (DANS), 2 from the Interior Ministry, 1 from the Defense Ministry and 1 from NATO - while he was Prime Minister. In October 2013 Stanishev voluntarily gave up his parliamentary immunity to be tried in court.^[17]

If convicted, he could have faced a two-year jail sentence or a fine.^[12]

On December 16, 2016 Stanishev was acquitted, with the judge stating that "there were no indisputable evidence that Stanishev lost the documents, nor was it proven conclusively that the documents contained confidential information".^[19][20]