Bulgaria's Stanishev to Lead European Socialists

The decision of the leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Sergey Stanishev, to head PES is seen as a logical step in his political career. Photo by BGNES

The leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and former Prime Minister, Sergey Stanishev, will chair the Party of European Socialists (PES), until its 2012 congress.

The Bulgarian "Trud" (Labor) daily reports Thursday that Stanishev will be appointed temporarily in charge of PES at the forum of the European left wing, which begins in Brussels today and will end Saturday.

The daily cites own sources saying that it is expected that the current PES leader, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, is going to step down.

Stanishev is attending the forum with a large Bulgarian delegation which includes mayors, municipal councilors and local BSP leaders. The delegation has been invited by the BSP MEP, Christian Vigenin.

The sources further report that PES believe it is good to have former ministers and PM as leaders because they know well European officials.

Experts see Stanishev's decision to head PES as a logical step in his political career.

He is a constant member of the PES presidium since 2002, while since the spring of 2010 he heads the newly-established PES internal policy network, the Bulgarian "Dnevnik" daily reminds.

BSP is a PES member since 2005, and a member of the Socialist International since 2003.

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