Bulgaria’s Commission pick set for digital brief

The 37-year-old Mariya Gabriel is regarded as hard working but lacks digital experience.

At her lavish society wedding in 2012, Mariya Gabriel’s guests were entertained by a troop of performers who danced barefoot on hot embers.

If the MEP, who was officially nominated by Bulgaria Wednesday to be the country’s new commissioner, is to make a success of the politically toxic digital portfolio, she will need some equally nimble footwork.

That is for the future though.

The well-connected Gabriel — Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Deputy Prime Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov were at her wedding — will replace Kristalina Georgieva, who resigned in October 2016. But the Commission still needs to validate her nomination and select her portfolio. She will also face a confirmation hearing at the European Parliament, where some are questioning whether she has the experience for the job.

Commission officials expect Gabriel to work under Digital Vice President Andrus Ansip, who has been handling the digital portfolio since Günther Oettinger left the post in January.

Her nomination was welcomed by Ansip, who told journalists Wednesday: “We are at a stage where … a lot of decisions will be made during the next presidencies, during the Estonian and Bulgarian presidencies,” he said, “I think it will be even good when a commissioner from Bulgaria will be responsible for digital files.”

Former NATO General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who worked with her on Ukraine-related issues tweeted his congratulations Wednesday, praising their “excellent cooperation.”

‘Extremely competent’

Gabriel also received backing from Manfred Weber, the president of the Conservative European People’s Party (EPP). “Mariya Gabriel is an extremely competent and talented politician,” he said in a statement, which described her as, “a very well-respected member of our group” and a “strong voice” for Bulgaria in Europe. Gabriel is a member of Bulgaria’s ruling GERB party and a deputy chairman of the EPP group.

Some observers were skeptical though that 37-year-old Gabriel has the experience to handle the digital portfolio, which will require steadfastness in the face of corporate giants like Google and Facebook and deft handling of some of Europe’s most fractious policy debates.

“[Mariya Gabriel] doesn’t have a digital portfolio,” said Julia Reda, a Green MEP with an interest in digital issues. “That doesn’t mean she wouldn’t be qualified as a Commissioner.”

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“[But] it would’ve been great to come with someone with a digital background,” she added. “I would like to have someone who has guts and clout to implement [Commission President Jean-Claude] Juncker’s original digital proposals and actually tearing down national silos in digital.”

Reda and many others told POLITICO they regretted that Eva Maydell, another (more media-savvy) Bulgarian member from the EPP had not been nominated for the job.

“But [Prime Minister] Borisov doesn’t support Eva as he supports Mariya,” a parliament official said.

Borisov, an energetic, tough-talking former bodyguard and karate champion returned to power in March after leading his country as prime minister from 2009-13 and from 2014 to 2017. He formed a government by luring in the United Patriots, an alliance of anti-immigrant, nationalist parties.

Hard working

Gabriel, born Mariya Ivanova Nedelcheva is a fluent French speaker and a twice-elected MEP who is generally regarded in the parliament as hard working. According to VoteWatch, she has made 150 speeches in plenary and has written 22 reports, including on women’s rights in the Eastern partnership States.

Her husband François Gabriel was a former staffer for EPP group leader Joseph Daul and now works for European Parliament President Antonio Tajani in his external policy team. François, who like his wife is a fan of ballet, proposed to Mariya inside the European parliament building.

As an MEP, she is best-known for her work on visa policies and foreign affairs. Most recently, she has been a rapporteur on two reports, which gave Ukrainians and Georgians the right to travel to the Schengen area without visas for up to 90 days. “She managed to consolidate all the political parties in the parliament and brought the 28 to agree,” said an EPP official.

But while she has twice won “MEP of the Year” awards from Parliament magazine, it is easy to find people in the Brussels bubble who have barely heard of her.

“I don’t remember the names of quite a few Commissioners. What is one more?” said one Bulgarian official.

Another Bulgarian socialist figure said her low political profile in Bulgaria could be an advantage: “When you don’t do anything to attract attention in Bulgaria, that’s a good thing.”

Assuming Gabriel is handed the digital portfolio, her future cabinet will provide much-needed extra hands to Ansip, whose staff has been stretched thin since taking on the extra work in January.

Juncker is set to meet Gabriel and discuss her portfolio next week on the margins of the parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg. Asked whether this is the moment the Commission president will select her for the digital brief, a commission official shot back: “Juncker has not chosen her yet.”

Gabriel may need to work on her footwork in the meantime.