Iliana Malinova Iotova ( bg, Илияна Малинова Йотова; born 24 October 1964) is a Bulgarian politician who has been serving as

Vice President of Bulgaria The vice president of the Republic of Bulgaria is a position, established by the Constitution of Bulgaria, and the only active vice presidential office in the European Union (EU).Another EU member state, Cyprus, also has a post of Vice President, ...

since 2017. She was the running mate of

Rumen Radev Rumen Georgiev Radev ( bg, Румен Георгиев Радев ; born 18 June 1963) is a Bulgarian politician and former major general who is the current president of Bulgaria since 22 January 2017. Radev previously served as higher command ...

, who defeated

GERB GERB ( bg, ГЕРБ, translation=coat of arms, acronym for Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) is a conservative, populist political party which was the ruling party of Bulgaria between 2009 and 2021. History GERB is headed by for ...

nominee

Tsetska Tsacheva Tsetska Tsacheva Dangovska ( bg, Цецка Цачева Данговска; born 24 May 1958) is a Bulgarian politician from GERB and a jurist. She was the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Bulgaria from 4 May 2017 to 5 April 2019. She had p ...

in the second round of the 2016 presidential election. She was a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

from 2007 until her resignation on 16 January 2017. She speaks

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

, French and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Education

Born in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

, Iotova studied in the Lycée Français de Sofia. She received a master's degree in Bulgarian and French

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

from the

University of Sofia Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...

and later specialized at the

École nationale d'administration The École nationale d'administration (generally referred to as ENA, en, National School of Administration) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by President of France, President Charles de Gaulle and principal author of the Constitu ...

(ENA, National School of Administration) in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, France, and the Center for European Studies (CEES) of the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

Early career

From 1990 to 1997, Iotova worked at

Bulgarian National Television The Bulgarian National Television ( Bulgarian: Българска национална телевизия, ''Balgarska natsionalna televizia'') or BNT (БНТ), stylized as ·Б·Н·Т· since 2018, is a public television broadcaster of Bulgari ...

as a reporter, editor, director and presenter of news and current affairs programmes. She then worked as the director of the press service of the

Bulgarian Socialist Party The Bulgarian Socialist Party ( bg, Българска социалистическа партия, translit=Balgarska sotsialisticheska partiya, BSP), also known as The Centenarian ( bg, Столетницата, links=no, translit=Stoletnitsat ...

Political career

Career in national politics

In the 2005 national elections, Iotova was elected to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

Member of the European Parliament, 2007–2017

Iotova became a

in 2007 and was re-elected in 2014. There she was part of the

Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialist ...

group. In parliament, Iotova served on the

Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) is a committee of the European Parliament. Work of the committee The committee is responsible for: * coordination at Community level of national legislation in the sphere of th ...

(2007-2009), the

Committee on Fisheries The Committee on Fisheries (PECH) is a committee of the European Parliament. Chris Davies was the chairman (2019 – 2020) - until the United Kingdom left the European Union. Committee mandate PECH is the European Parliament committee respon ...

(2009-2014) and the

Committee on Petitions The Committee on Petitions (PETI) is a permanent committee of the European Parliament to offer a petition process including a web portal to create and admit petitions. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Dolors Montserrat, member of the ...

(2009-2014). From 2012 until 2013, she was also a member of the Special Committee on Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering. From the

2014 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2014. * 2014 United Nations Security Council election 16 October 2014 Africa * 2014 Algerian presidential election 17 April 2014 * 2014 Botswana general election 24 October 2014 * 2014 Comorian presi ...

, she served as vice-chairwoman of the

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) is a committee of the European Parliament that is responsible for protecting civil liberties and human rights, as listed in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. ...

, under the leadership of chairman

Claude Moraes Claude Ajit Moraes (born 22 October 1965) is a British Labour Party politician and campaigner, who was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for London between 1999 and the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU on 31 January 2020.>s H ...

. In this capacity, she was her parliamentary group's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Euro ...

on a 2015 report calling for the equitable distribution of 40,000 refugees across the European Union. In addition to her committee assignments, Iotova served as chairwoman of the parliament's delegation to the EU-Montenegro Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee and as member of the delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) is an international organization established in 2005 by the national parliaments of the countries of the Euro-Mediterranean region. It is the legal successor of the Conference on Security an ...

. She was also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime).Members of the European Parliament on Integrity (Transparency, Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime)

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. Ahead of Bulgaria's 2016 presidential elections, Iotova was officially nominated as the Bulgarian Socialist Party's running mate for presidential candidate

. After her election to the Vice Presidency, she resigned her MEP seat.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Iotova, Iliana Living people 1964 births Politicians from Sofia Members of the National Assembly (Bulgaria) MEPs for Bulgaria 2007–2009 MEPs for Bulgaria 2009–2014 MEPs for Bulgaria 2014–2019 Women MEPs for Bulgaria Coalition for Bulgaria MEPs Bulgarian Socialist Party politicians Bulgarian journalists Bulgarian women journalists Bulgarian television presenters Sofia University alumni École nationale d'administration alumni Vice presidents of Bulgaria Women vice presidents Bulgarian women television presenters 21st-century Bulgarian women politicians 21st-century Bulgarian politicians