US Embassy: Bulgaria Deputy PM Is Not American Citizen

Bulgaria's Deputy PM and Finance Minister who has developed his professional career overseas has not been granted US citizenship according to the archives of the respective American institutions. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria’s Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Simeon Djankov is not an American Citizen according to a statement released by the American Embassy in Sofia.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Finance published Wednesday an open letter from the US embassy in Bulgaria stating that Minister Djankov is not an American citizen.

Djankov, who has worked for 13 years in the World Bank and is married to an American, has been suspected of holding a double citizenship.

”As a result of media speculation regarding your citizenship, I’m writing this letter to confirm that you are not a citizen of the United States of America,” says the letter by the Consul General of the US Embassy in Sofia, Eric Alexander.

The US Consul General confirms that ”records of this Embassy, the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security in Washington have been reviewed and contain no finding of information that you – Simeon Denchev Djankov – are a citizen of the United States.”

Minister Djankov is married to Caroline Freund, also a World Bank economist.

In his 13 years at the World Bank, he has worked on regional trade agreements in North Africa, enterprise restructuring and privatization in transition economies, corporate governance in East Asia, and regulatory reforms around the world.

Bulgaria’s current deputy prime minister is the principal author of the World Development Report 2002.

In June 2008, he established the think-tank Ideas42, a Harvard University-International Finance Corporation venture.

Ever since he took office in July 2009, Minister Djankobv has been object to mixed reviews. His proposed VAT hike and Bulgaria’s austerity package gave rise to sharp criticism by the opposition, while his shrewd remarks during media appearances have angered even President Georgi Parvanov.

Recently, Minister Djankov managed to outrage the Bulgarian President by hinting in an interview for a night TV talk show that Parvanov is ”an elderly billionaire.”

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