Rumiana Ruseva Jeleva ( bg, Румяна Русева Желева; born 18 April 1969) was Bulgaria's minister of foreign affairs (July 2009 – January 2010), the third woman to hold this office after Irina Bokova and

Nadezhda Mihailova Nadezhda Neynsky,Name after her second marriage after she divorced with her previous husband. previously known as Nadezhda Nikolova Mihaylova ( bg, Надежда Николова Михайлова) (born 9 August 1962 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian p ...

. Jeleva was a key figure in the "

GERB GERB ( bg, ГЕРБ, translation=coat of arms, acronym for Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) is a conservative, Populism, populist List of political parties in Bulgaria, political party which was the ruling party of Bulgaria betwee ...

" political party which won the 2009 parliamentary elections. From 2007 to 2009 she served as

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

(MEP) and headed the Bulgarian delegation in the EPP Group. She was nominated by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov as Commissioner in the "Barroso II Commission" and was affiliated with the European People's Party (EPP). However, an article in the German newspaper ''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter All ...

'' accused her husband of links with the Russian mafia. Jeleva holds a B.A. in sociology from the

University of Sofia Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...

(1995) and a PhD in sociology from

Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg The Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg () (''OvGU'') was founded in 1993, making it one of the youngest universities in Germany. The university is located in Magdeburg, the Capital city of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 13.000 students in nine ...

(2003).

Pronunciation

The Bulgarian pronunciation of the name ''Jeleva'' is , with the -sound of English ''pleasure'' (voiced palato-alveolar fricative). According to the current official standards for the Romanization of Bulgarian, her name should be transliterated as "Zheleva". Because of this confusion, some people erroneously pronounce the name with a ''y''-sound, .

Failure in EC hearings and end of political career

Jeleva was Bulgaria's nominee for

European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response The European Commissioner for Crisis Management is a member of the European Commission. The portfolio was previously titled ''Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection''. The post is currently held by Janez Lenarčič. The portfolio ...

. During her January 2010 confirmation hearing, she repeatedly failed to answer questions regarding allegations over her financial interests. She also failed to demonstrate sufficient competence in the areas she was to oversee."Jeleva remains Barroso's weakest link"
from europeanvoice.com, retrieved January 2010 Her defensive and seemingly arrogant attitude and her poor language skills further jeopardized her candidacy. Facing a storm of disapproval at home, on 19 January 2010, Jeleva sent a letter of resignation to Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, stepping down as both commissioner-designate and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and putting an end to her political career.Letter from Dr. Jeleva to the prime minister Boiko Borissov (in Bulgarian)
/ref> She was replaced as commissioner-designate by

Kristalina Georgieva Kristalina Ivanova Georgieva-Kinova ( bg, Кристалина Иванова Георгиева-Кинова; ; born 13 August 1953) is a Bulgarian economist serving as managing director of the International Monetary Fund since 2019. She was t ...

and as Minister of Foreign Affairs by

Nickolay Mladenov Nikolay Evtimov Mladenov ( bg, Николай Евтимов Младенов; born 5 May 1972) is a Bulgarian politician and diplomat who served as Bulgaria's Minister of Defense from 27 July 2009 to 27 January 2010 and as the minister of forei ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeleva, Rumiana 1969 births 21st-century Bulgarian women politicians 21st-century Bulgarian politicians Female foreign ministers Women MEPs for Bulgaria Foreign ministers of Bulgaria GERB MEPs GERB politicians Living people MEPs for Bulgaria 2007–2009 MEPs for Bulgaria 2009–2014 Women government ministers of Bulgaria Bulgarian women diplomats

Pronunciation

Failure in EC hearings and end of political career

See also

References

External links