Rumiana Jeleva

Who is Rumiana Jeleva?

Rumiana Ruseva Jeleva Bulgarian: Румяна Русева Желева was Bulgaria's minister of foreign affairs, the third woman to hold this office after Irina Bokova and Nadezhda Mihailova. Jeleva was a key figure in the "Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria" political party which won the 2009 parliamentary elections. From 2007–2009 she served as Member of the European Parliament and headed the Bulgarian delegation in the EPP Group. She was nominated by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov as Commissioner in the "Barroso II Commission" and was affiliated with the European People's Party. However, an article in the German newspaper Die Welt accused her husband of links with the Russian mafia.

Jeleva holds a B.A. in sociology from the University of Sofia and a PhD in sociology from Otto von Guericke University of Magdeburg.