Kristian Ivanov Vigenin (; born 12 June 1975) is a Bulgarian politician, Vice-President of the

National Assembly of Bulgaria The National Assembly () is the Unicameralism, unicameral parliament and Legislature, legislative body of the Republic of Bulgaria. The first National Assembly was established in 1879 with the Tarnovo Constitution. During the People's Republic ...

, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, and a former

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

. He became minister on May 29, 2013, in the cabinet of

Plamen Oresharski Plamen Vasilev Oresharski (, born 21 February 1960) is a Bulgarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2013 to 2014. Affiliated with the Bulgarian Socialist Party, he previously served as Member of the National Assembly fr ...

, where he served until the new government took office on August 6, 2014. In the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

, Mr. Vigenin was a member of the

Coalition for Bulgaria A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

, part of the

Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...

, and became an MEP on 1 January 2007 with the

accession of Bulgaria to the European Union On 1 January 2007, Bulgaria and Romania became member states of the European Union (EU) in the fifth wave of EU enlargement. Bulgaria and Romania did not have a referendum related to European Union accession. Negotiations Romania was the ...

Early life and education

Born in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, Vigenin received a bachelor's degree in International Economics and Macroeconomics at the

University of National and World Economy The University of National and World Economy () is a public research university in Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot o ...

in 1998. He is fluent in English, French,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and his native Bulgarian.

Political career

Early political career

Vigenin's political career began in 1994 while still a student in his alma mater. During that time, he became a founder of the Bulgarian Socialist Youth and served three consecutive terms in office, until 2000. From March 1999 to March 2001 Vigenin served as senior expert on the European Union Integration Directorate of the Bulgarian Customs Agency. In 2000 Kristian Vigenin was elected to the Supreme Council of the

Bulgarian Socialist Party The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), also known as The Centenarian, is a centre-left, social democratic political party in Bulgaria. The BSP is a member of the Socialist International, Party of European Socialists, and Progressive Alliance. Alt ...

and in the end of 2001 became a member of the Executive Bureau of the Party. Since 2003, he was a full member of the

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

and a member of the

, since 2005. Following his membership in BSP, Vigenin was elected as Member of Parliament from

Yambol Yambol ( ) is a city in Southeastern Bulgaria and administrative centre of Yambol Province. It lies on both banks of the Tundzha river in the historical region of Thrace. It is occasionally spelled ''Jambol''. Yambol is the administrative cente ...

and the same year became a member of the

. After May 2007, Vigenin was elected as MEP and was a winner of his re-election in 2009.

Ukraine

On November 9, 2013, Vigenin traveled to

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

, Ukraine where he met with

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

Leonid Kozhara and

Prime Minister of Ukraine The prime minister of Ukraine (, , ) is the head of government of Ukraine. The prime minister presides over the government of Ukraine, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of the government of Ukrain ...

Mykola Azarov Mykola Yanovych Azarov (; ; née, né Pakhlo, Cyrillic: Пахло; born 17 December 1947) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian politician who was the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 11 March 2010 to 27 January 2014. He was the First Vice Prime Minister an ...

. In December of the same year, Vigenin again visited Ukraine. That month he spoke at the Ukrainian capital

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the pr ...

, the

Helsinki Accords The Helsinki Final Act, also known as Helsinki Accords or Helsinki Declaration, was the document signed at the closing meeting of the third phase of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland, betwee ...

and Helsinki+40 Process which was discussed in Dublin in 2012.

European Union

On July 3, 2014, Kristian Vigenin met with

Ivica Dačić Ivica Dačić ( sr-cyrl, Ивица Дачић, ; born 1 January 1966) is a Serbian politician serving as deputy prime minister of Serbia since 2022 and minister of internal affairs since 2024. He has been the leader of the Socialist Party of ...

, the Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs. The two discussed a plan on how to build the

South Stream South Stream (; ; ; ; ; ) is a canceled pipeline project to transport natural gas of the Russian Federation through the Black Sea to Bulgaria and through Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia further to Austria. It was never finished. The project was f ...

gas pipeline, a plan which was later called off due to the Russian actions in Eastern Ukraine. The same year, he met with the Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Titus Corlățean and discussed the possible integration of Republics of Moldova and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

into the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, the EU Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. Prior to the 2014 meeting, they discussed the same issues in August 2013 at the

Foreign Affairs Council The Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) is a configuration of the Council of the European Union that convenes once a month. Meetings bring together the foreign ministers of the member states. Ministers responsible for European affairs, defence, developm ...

, during which, besides those issues, the two also discussed

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

, with special focus on

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

References

External links

*
Biography at the website of the Bulgarian government
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vigenin, Kristian 1975 births Coalition for Bulgaria MEPs Ministers of foreign affairs of Bulgaria Living people MEPs for Bulgaria 2007 MEPs for Bulgaria 2007–2009 MEPs for Bulgaria 2009–2014 Politicians from Sofia University of National and World Economy alumni MEPs for Bulgaria 2024–2029