Nikolai Denkov Denkov ( bg, Николай Денков Денков, born September 3, 1962) is a Bulgarian politician who served as

Prime Minister of Bulgaria The prime minister of Bulgaria ( bg, Министър-председател, Ministar-predsedatel) is the head of government of Bulgaria. They are the leader of a political coalition in the Bulgarian parliament – known as the National Assemb ...

from 2023 to 2024. A member of the PP party, he previously served as a Member of 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 ...

from 2022 to 2023 and as Minister of Education and Science in 2017 and from 2021 to 2022. Denkov is a physicist, physical chemist and chemist. He is a member of the

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (abbreviated BAS; bg, Българска академия на науките, ''Balgarska akademiya na naukite'', abbreviated ''БАН'') is the National Academy of Bulgaria, established in 1869. The Academy ...

and was a lecturer at 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 ...

Early life

Nikolai was born on 3 September 1962, in

Stara Zagora Stara Zagora ( bg, Стара Загора, ) is the sixth-largest city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of the homonymous Stara Zagora Province. Name The name comes from the Slavic root ''star'' ("old") and the name of the medieva ...

, Bulgaria. After elementary school, he moved to the Bulgarian capital

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 ...

, where he graduated from the National Gymnasium for Science and Mathematics in 1980. This was followed by a master's degree in chemistry and pharmacy at the St. Kliment-Ohridski University in Sofia, which he completed in 1987. In 1993, he defended his dissertation and obtained his doctorate. For the early part of his career, Denkov worked as visiting researcher in JRDC (Japan), senior researcher in Rhone-Poulenc R&D (France), lead scientist in

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

R&D (USA), and guest professor in France ( ESPCI-Paris and Univ. Lille).

Academic career

Denkov has been an adjunct lecturer since 1997 and professor of physical chemistry at the University of Sofia since 2008. Between 2008 and 2015 he was head of the faculty for technical chemistry and director of the master's course Disperse Systems in Chemical Technologies. He has been a doctor of chemistry since 2007. He specialized in Japan and at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

in Sweden and worked as a senior scientist in the research institutes of private companies such as

(

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

) and

Rhône-Poulenc Rhône-Poulenc () was a French chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in 1928. In 1999 it merged with Hoechst AG to form Aventis. As of 2015, the pharmaceutical operations of Rhône-Poulenc are part of Sanofi and the chemicals divisions ar ...

(

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

). In 2010 he was awarded the highest national award "Pythagoras" for scientific achievements by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science. In 2013 he received the Medal of Honor with Blue Ribbon from the University of Sofia. Between 2012 and 2013, Denkov was a member of various working groups in the Ministry of Education and Science and in the Council of Ministers. He actively participated in the development of the concept of the Operational Program ''Science and Education for Smart Growth'' and in the discussions for the Partnership Agreement for 2013–2020 between the Republic of Bulgaria and the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

Civil service career

From August 2014 to April 2016, Denkov was Deputy Minister of Education and Science in the Borisov II government, responsible for higher education and the European Structural Funds, including the implementation of the Operational Program ''Science and Education for Smart Growth''. From 27 January 2017, to 4 May 2017, he was Interim Minister for Education and Science in Gerdzhikov's interim government. In 2019, Denkov was awarded the Solvay Prize of the European Colloid and Interface Society (ECIS) for his research achievements and he was elected a full member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

Political career

Education minister (2021–2022)

Between 12 May 2021, and 13 December 2021, he was again interim minister for education and science in the acting governments of Yanev I and Yanev II during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. When after the general election in November 2021 that

We Continue the Change We Continue the Change ( bg, Продължаваме промяната, Prodalzhavame promyanata; PP), sometimes translated as Change Continues, is a Centrism, centrist, anti-corruption List of political parties in Bulgaria, political party and ...

(PP) had the largest congressional faction was and could form a coalition capable of governing, Denkov became the education minister in the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

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 ...

Prime Minister of Bulgaria (2023–2024)

Following the outcome of the Bulgarian parliamentary elections held in April 2023, on 22 May Denkov was projected to become

as part of a power-sharing agreement between the two most-voted coalitions, GERB—SDS and

PP–DB PP–DB ( bg, ПП – ДБ) is an electoral coalition between We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria in Bulgaria. The two groups merged prior to the 2023 election. Background Bulgarian political crisis Following numerous corrupt ...

. The deal implied that Denkov would lead the new government for the following nine months, before switching positions with

Mariya Gabriel Mariya Ivanova Gabriel ( bg, Мария Иванова Габриел) (''née'' Nedelcheva, bg, Неделчева) (born 20 May 1979) is a Bulgarian politician and a member of the GERB party serving as European Commissioner for Innovation, R ...

. Following extensive talks between the two coalitions involved, as well as the

Movement for Rights and Freedoms The Movement for Rights and Freedoms ( bg, Движение за права и свободи ''Dvizhenie za prava i svobodi'', ДПС, DPS; tr, Hak ve Özgürlükler Hareketi, HÖH) is a centrist political party in Bulgaria with a support base ...

, an official agreement on the composition of the Denkov-Gabriel cabinet was reached on 2 June. On 6 June, the Bulgarian National Assembly voted in Denkov's new government, with 132 votes in favor and 69 against. The new government will focus on fighting Russian influence in Bulgaria's security sector and obtaining membership in the

Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and j ...

and the

eurozone The euro area, commonly called eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 19 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU policies ...

. A political crisis prompted Bulgaria to postpone adopting the

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

until 2025. In December 2022, Austrian and Dutch opposition blocked Bulgaria and Romania from becoming members of the Schengen Area. In September 2023, Denkov called

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

a "valuable partner" of Bulgaria. Denkov condemned

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...

' actions during the

2023 Israel–Hamas war } The ongoing armed conflict between Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups and Israel military forces began on 7 October 2023, 50 years after the start of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Hamas's coordinated surprise offensive, codenamed "Al-Aqsa Fl ...

and expressed his support to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. On 30 December 2023, it became clear that Denkov's cabinet had secured membership for Bulgaria in the

by air and sea. Although further negotiations in 2024 would be required to lift border controls by land, this was a major diplomatic success for the Denkov-Gabriel cabinet, which aimed for а positive decision regarding Schengen Area membership by the end of 2023 as part of the five government priorities stated in July of the same year. Denkov resigned on 6 March 2024 as part of the power-sharing agreement with Gabriel. However, on 25 March, Gabriel withdrew her nomination for prime minister after announcing that negotiations on forming a new government with PP-DB had failed, and said that new elections would be held.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denkov, Nikolai 1962 births Living people Members of Academia Europaea Members of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Academic staff of Sofia University 20th-century chemists 21st-century chemists 20th-century Bulgarian physicists 21st-century Bulgarian physicists 21st-century Bulgarian politicians Government ministers of Bulgaria Education ministers Prime ministers of Bulgaria