Julian Georgiev Popov ( bg, Юлиан Георгиев Попов; born 21 September 1959) is a
Bulgarian-
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English ...
, politician, public figure and writer.
Popov is the author of the book ''English Bulgaria or Switzerland in the Balkans'' (2004), the novel ''Island of Mists'' (2006), co-author of the books "The European Supergrid" and "Energy and Climate Diplomacy" and of many comment and opinion articles on energy policies, European integration,
low-carbon economy
A low-carbon economy (LCE) or decarbonised economy is an economy based on energy sources that produce low levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. GHG emissions due to human activity are the dominant cause of observed climate change since the mi ...
and international relations for the Bulgarian, British (
BBC Three
BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...
,
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...
,
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikke ...
,
Huffington Post,
The Scotsman
''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pa ...
), Polish and other European media, as well as for
Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazee ...
. He has also been an advocate for
minority groups in Bulgaria, starting a campaign to remove a racist
anti-Roma group from
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...
and writing articles (for instance for Al Jazeera) on the maltreatment of
Roma minority in Bulgaria and across Europe.
He is fellow of the
European Climate Foundation
The European Climate Foundation (ECF) is an independent philanthropic initiative working to help tackle the climate crisis by fostering the development of a net zero emissions society at the national, European and global level. Its aim is to p ...
, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the
Buildings Performance Institute Europe
A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and funct ...
, Chairman of the Board of the "
Elizabeth Kostova Foundation
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
" for
creative writing
Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literar ...
, and until becoming Cabinet Minister in 2013 served as Chairman of the Board of the
Bulgarian School of Politics
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
and as a member of the board of the
American University in Bulgaria
The American University in Bulgaria (or AUBG) is a private university located in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. Established in 1991, today AUBG has about 1,000 students from over 40 countries on 5 continents (as of Fall 2019). Close to 50% of the student ...
. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the
New Bulgarian University
New Bulgarian University ( bg, Нов български университет, also known and abbreviated as НБУ, NBU) is a private university based in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Its campus is in the western district of the city, known ...
and Director and Treasurer of the British charity
Friends of Bulgaria
''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...
. He was also the founding CEO of the New Bulgarian University where he introduced distance education to Bulgaria. In 2006 he created the first political blog in the Bulgarian language.
Popov was appointed the
Minister of Environment and Water in the
caretaker Raykov Government on 13 March 2013. He left office on 29 May of that year.
In 2016 he was recognised as one of the 40 most influential voices in European energy policy under N24 by the Brussels media service
EurActiv
Euractiv (styled EURACTIV) is a pan-European news website specialised in EU policies, founded in 1999 by the French media publisher Christophe Leclercq. Its headquarters and central editorial staff are located in Brussels,with further offices in ...
.
In 2023 he was nominated as potential Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Environment by the
PP-DB coalition (who had obtained second place in the
general elections
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
). He was appointed as Minister of Environment and Water of Bulgaria
References
External links
Elizabeth Kostova FoundationBulgarian School of Politics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popov, Julian
1959 births
Living people
British male journalists
British writers
Bulgarian male writers
Bulgarian expatriates in England
Government ministers of Bulgaria
Sofia University alumni
Politicians from Sofia