27 Facts About Sergey Stanishev

Sergey Dmitrievich Stanishev is a Bulgarian politician who served Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2005 to 2009.

Sergey Stanishev subsequently graduated from Moscow State University in 1989 and obtained his candidate degree in 1994 both in the field of history.

Sergey Stanishev's thesis was entitled "The system of service promotion of high ranking officials in Russia and its evolution during the second half of XIX century".

Sergey Stanishev was Chief of Foreign Policy and International Relations for the BSP from 1996 to 2001.

In December 2001, Sergey Stanishev was elected Chairman of the BSP at the party's Congress, and 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 Sergey Stanishev has been a member of the presidency of the Party of European Socialists.

Sergey Stanishev succeed to modernise the BSP, leading it to fill membership to the Socialist International and then to be member of the PES.

Sergey Stanishev was elected as a member of the European Parliament for a second term in 2019.

However, the parliament voted against Sergey Stanishev's proposed Cabinet by 119 to 117 votes.

On 17 August 2005, with an official ceremony on 1 Dondukov Boulevard, Sergey Stanishev took office as Prime Minister.

Sergey 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.

Sergey 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.

Sergey 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 Sergey 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.

Later in June 2009, Sergey Stanishev supported Jose Manuel Barroso for a second term as EU Commission President.

Sergey 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, Sergey Stanishev was elected as President of PES for a full two-year term.

At the PES congress in Lisbon in 2018 Sergey Stanishev was re-elected as president of the PES.

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

In early July 2014, Sergey Stanishev announced that he would step down as leader of the BSP.

At the summit at which EU's top jobs were discussed Sergey Stanishev was proposed as a candidate for President of the European Parliament.

Boyko Borisov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria, said Sergey Stanishev's nomination was an "honor and pride for Bulgaria".

Sergey Stanishev defended his wife saying that she was working on similar projects before they got married in 2013.

Sergey Stanishev faced a court on 18 of March 2014 in the so-called "lost documents" case, which many observers and Stanishev himself have claimed as based on pure political grounds.

Sergey Stanishev was charged with losing 7 classified documents - 3 from the State Agency for National Security, 2 from the Interior Ministry, 1 from the Defense Ministry and 1 from NATO - while he was Prime Minister.

In October 2013 Sergey Stanishev voluntarily gave up his parliamentary immunity to be tried in court.

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