Asen Vaskov Vasilev ( bg, Асен Васков Василев; born 9 September 1977) is a Bulgarian politician, economist, and entrepreneur who is the current Deputy Prime Minister and

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

since 13 December 2021. He is the co-leader of

We Continue the Change We Continue the Change ( bg, Продължаваме промяната, Prodalzhavame promyanata; PP), sometimes translated as Change Continues, is a centrist, anti-corruption political party and an electoral alliance in Bulgaria led by Kiril P ...

, a political movement he co-founded with

Kiril Petkov Kiril Petkov Petkov ( bg, Кирил Петков Петков; born 17 April 1980) is a Bulgarian politician, economist, and entrepreneur, who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria from December 2021 to August 2022. He is the co-leader of We ...

Childhood and education

Vasilev was born on September 9, 1977, in

Haskovo Haskovo ( bg, Хасково ) is a city in the region of Northern Thrace in southern Bulgaria and the administrative centre of the Haskovo Province, not far from the borders with Greece and Turkey. According to Operative Program Regional Develo ...

, Bulgaria. He earned a degree in economics from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in 2000 and continued studies at Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School.

Professional career

Vasilev is a co-founder and president of Everbeard, an airline ticket pricing company. It is partly funded by the Singapore National Research Fund and the first

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...

investor. Vasilev was the co-founder and director of the Centre for Economic Strategy and Competitiveness. He is a lecturer in the Program for Economic Growth and Development, a branch of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski” and with the Centre for Strategy and Competitiveness of Harvard Business School. From 1999 to 2004, Vasilev worked as a consultant for

Monitor Group Monitor Deloitte is the multinational strategy consulting practice of Deloitte Consulting. Monitor Deloitte specializes in providing strategy consultation services to the senior management of major organizations and governments. It helps its clie ...

in the US, Canada, Europe, and South Africa. He managed marketing and strategic development projects for large international companies in the fields of telecommunications, energy, mining, insurance, and several major consumer goods manufacturers.

Political career

In 2013 Vasilev was Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism in the caretaker government of

Marin Raykov Marin Raykov Nikolov ( bg, Марин Райков Николов ; born 17 December 1960 in Washington, D.C., United States) is a Bulgarian politician and diplomat who was appointed to serve as a caretaker Prime Minister of Bulgaria and minis ...

. From 12 May to 16 September 2021, he was Minister of Finance in the caretaker government of

Stefan Yanev Stefan Dinchev Yanev ( bg, Стефан Динчев Янев) is a retired Bulgarian Army Brigade general and a politician. He was from 12 May to 13 December 2021 acting deputy prime minister, acting minister of defense and caretaker government ...

. On 19 September 2021, together with

, Vasilev presented his new political project "

We continue the change We Continue the Change ( bg, Продължаваме промяната, Prodalzhavame promyanata; PP), sometimes translated as Change Continues, is a centrist, anti-corruption political party and an electoral alliance in Bulgaria led by Kiril P ...

". He was the leader of the party list in Haskovo and Sofia 23 for the

2021 Bulgarian general election General elections were held in Bulgaria on 14 November 2021 to elect both the President and the National Assembly. They were the country's third parliamentary elections in 2021, with no party able to form a government after the elections in Apri ...

on 14 November. The party won the most seats in the new parliament and formed a coalition government on 13 December 2021. Vasilev became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in the short-lived

Petkov government The Petkov Government, known as the Four-party coalition cabinet, was the ninety-sixth cabinet of Bulgaria. Chaired by prime minister Kiril Petkov, it was approved by the National Assembly on 13 December 2021 after the government formation as a ...

. The Petkov government's mandate ended in late June 2022 because of Russian mischief, and on 1 July President Rumen Radev asked Vasilev to form a new government. One week later as prescribed by the constitution Vasilev informed the president that his party only had the support of 117 members, falling four short of the majority. "Unfortunately, we failed to gather enough support to implement the politics that our...government would have wanted to push through. We could not get the support needed to rid Bulgaria of corruption and make the state work for the people, instead of channeling taxpayers’ money into a few select companies that can use it to corrupt the political class. We hope that in the next elections, the additional four deputies will be elected by the people."

Other activities

* European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2021)Board of Governors
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasilev, Asen 1977 births Living people 21st-century Bulgarian politicians Harvard Business School alumni People from Haskovo Finance ministers of Bulgaria