23 Facts About Rosen Zhelyazkov

Rosen Dimitrov Zhelyazkov is a Bulgarian politician who is the current prime minister of Bulgaria.

Rosen Zhelyazkov earned a master's degree in Law from Sofia University.

In 2009, after Borisov became prime-minister, Rosen Zhelyazkov was given the post of Secretary to the Ministerial Council, a position responsible for the administrative functions of the cabinet.

Rosen Zhelyazkov served as Secretary to the Ministerial Cabinet between 2009 and 2013 under both Borisov and interim Prime Minister Marin Raykov.

In 2014, the Sofia City Court found no evidence of wrongdoing by Rosen Zhelyazkov and ruled that he was innocent.

From 2014 to 2016, Rosen Zhelyazkov served as a Public Administration and e-Government advisor to Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

Rosen Zhelyazkov was nominated for the position of Chairman of the Commission for the Protection of Competitiveness by GERB in April 2016, but ultimately withdrew his candidacy due to a lack of competition and after an appeal by Borisov for his party to withdraw from the process.

On 20 September 2018, Rosen Zhelyazkov was elected by the National Assembly as Minister of Transport, Information Technology, and Communications.

Shortly after his election, Rosen Zhelyazkov promised to work closely with the National Assembly and aimed to continue the programs started by Moskovski.

In one of his first acts as Minister, Rosen Zhelyazkov ended the concession of Plovdiv Airport following the withdrawal of the previous concessioners.

In November 2018, Rosen Zhelyazkov announced a change in the leadership of the Bulgarian State Railways after a number of allegations of misappropriation of funds, as well as a lack of communication with the Transport Minister.

In January 2019, Rosen Zhelyazkov announced that Bulgaria had managed to gain certain concessions about the status of Bulgarian lorry drivers during negotiations with EU institutions, although the concessions were judged as unsatisfactory by the lorry drivers union.

Rosen Zhelyazkov denied these allegations, highlighting that the contract only restricted the rights of the state.

Rosen Zhelyazkov oversaw the construction of the 5G telecommunication infrastructure in Bulgaria.

In coordination with the Ministry of Education, Rosen Zhelyazkov attempted to reform the driving license examination requirements, including increasing the number of driving hours while reducing the theoretical requirements.

Rosen Zhelyazkov defended the law, claiming that it would digitalise many elements of the examination process, thus in effect reducing corruption.

Rosen Zhelyazkov was a Member of Parliament in the 45th, 46th, 47th, 48th and 49th National Assembly.

Rosen Zhelyazkov was consistently selected as the list-leader for the GERB-SDS list in the Blagoevgrad MMC.

Rosen Zhelyazkov was nominated as the GERB-SDS Prime Ministerial candidate, following the June 2024 parliamentary elections.

On 1 July 2024, Rosen Zhelyazkov received the first exploratory mandate for government formation by President Rumen Radev following the June 2024 Bulgarian parliamentary election.

Rosen Zhelyazkov stated that he aimed to form a minority government and presented the composition of his cabinet before Radev on the day, thus fulfilling the first mandate.

Rosen Zhelyazkov was selected as one of the members of the GERB-SDS negotiating team following the October 2024 parliamentary election, tasked with negotiating the formation of a regular government with DB, the BSP and ITN.

In early January, 2025, it was revealed that Rosen Zhelyazkov was the Prime Ministerial nominee from GERB-SDS leading to DB leaving the aforementioned government negotiations and a temporary suspension of the negotiations as a whole.