Konrad Adenauer Appoints New Director of Sofia Media Office

The Konrad Adenauer Foundation was named after the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic in 1964. Photo by www.hdg.de

The spokesperson of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, Matthias Barner, has been appointed the Director of the Sofia-based media office of the “Konrad Adenauer” Foundation for Southeastern Europe.

Barner replaces the journalist Dirk Foerger who led the program bureau in Bulgaria since its establishment in 2007.

Barner, 44, has a degree in political science. In addition to being a CDU spokesperson, he had worked as PR consultant.

The Konrad Adenauer media program for Southeastern Europe was established in 2005 while since January 2007 it has an office in Sofia. The program has the goal to support media in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria.

The Konrad Adenauer Foundation is related to the Christian Democratic movement. Having emerged from the 'Society for Christian Democratic Education Work' founded in 1956, it was named after the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic in 1964. The Foundation offers political education, conducts scientific fact-finding research for political projects, grants scholarships to gifted individuals, researches the history of Christian Democracy, and supports and encourages European unification, international understanding, and development-policy cooperation.