Bulgaria's Ex PM Filip Dimitrov First EU Ambassador in Office

Filip Dimitrov, former Bulgarian Prime Minister, right-wing leader and senior diplomat, has assumed the post of EU ambassador to Georgia. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Former Bulgarian Prime Minister Filip Dimitrov became the first officially appointed EU ambassador after passing with flying colours a discussion at the European Parliament. He will serve as EU's next ambassador to Georgia.

Dimitrov's appearance was the first in a series agreed between the EP foreign affairs committee and Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief.

"This is something, which I dearly wanted and I am truly happy I succeeded. This is an important diplomatic post in a country, where the European Union has a lot of interesting tasks to solve, a country, which deserves Europe's efforts to bring it closer," Dimitrov commented in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio.

According to Dimitrov the main challenge that EEAS faces will be building up a common European policy.

"It is no secret that this has never been easy. The very decision for the setting up of this service is a sign that Europe understands the need for such a unity and the risks that the lack of unified European policy poses. This is the challenge and we should achieve results."

Asked to comment Kristalina Georgieva's awards "European of the Year" and "EU Commissioner of the Year", Dimitrov said:

"This is a well deserved recognition. I think she proved this year that she can cope with any situation very well."

The European External Action Service was launched on December 1, symbolically coinciding with the first anniversary of the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty, which gave rise to the EEAS.

After a year of wrangling between the European Union's institutions over its set-up and competencies, EEAS began with just a handful of senior officials, led by Pierre Vimont, until recently France's ambassador to Washington, his two deputies, Helga Schmid and Maciej Popowski, and David O'Sullivan, the service's head of administration.

The big change for EU's foreign policy structures is expected to happen in a month, on January 1, when 1,114 officials from the European Commission and 411 officials from the secretariat of the Council of Ministers are to be transferred out of their existing institutions into the new service. The transfer however is conditional on the EU budget for 2011, which should be approved in time by the member states and MEPs.

Amidst this uncertainty surrounding the EEAS, there will be no fancy ceremony to mark its launch. Instead, an email containing the text of Ashton's speech to her 136 ambassadors will be sent to the press.

Bulgaria and Poland are the only countries from the newcomers in the European Union, which acceded in 2004 and 2007, that managed to land seats in the Union's delegations around the world.

Poland secured two representatives, with Tomasz Kozlowski to South Korea, and Joanna Wronecka to Jordan.

Two out of eighteen Bulgarian candidates managed to make it to the final stage of the selection process for members of the new EU External Action Service where Georgia was among the countries considered top-priority for the EU.

In addition to Dimitrov, who is also a former Bulgarian Ambassador to the US, the other candidate was career diplomat, Stefan Tafrov. Tafrov has served as Bulgaria's UN envoy, as well as ambassador to the UK, France and Italy and as Deputy Foreign Minister.

According to media reports Dimitrov has made a "brilliant" showing during the interviews for the top job.

Filip Dimitrov, a lawyer by profession, chaired 1990-1994 the Union of Democratic Forces, the main rightist political movement in Bulgaria in the 90s. 1991-2 he was Bulgaria's first rightist PM after the transition. 1997-8 Dimitrov was Bulgaria's envoy to the UN, and then 1998-2001 he served as the country's ambassador to the US.

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