The European Parliament has approved the appointment of Ms Iliana Ivanova from Bulgaria as new Commissioner for innovation, research, culture, education and youth. Ms Ivanova will replace Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, who resigned as EU Commissioner on 15 May to become Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister of Bulgaria.
522 Members of European Parliament voted in favour, 27 against and 51 abstained, following a three-hour long hearing with Ms Ivanova held last week by the Industry, Research and Energy Committee and the Culture and Education Committees of the Parliament.
After the hearing, both committees gave Ms Ivanova a positive evaluation, a position subsequently confirmed by the full House in plenary yesterday.
Ms Ivanova is expected to serve as Commissioner until the end of term of the current Commission – 31 October 2024. During this time, the institution will finalise the ex-post evaluation of Horizon 2020 (required by December 2023) and the interim evaluation of Horizon Europe (expected to be published in September 2024), among other things. Further information about both evaluations – which will form the basis for developing the next EU R&I Framework Programme (working title ‘FP10’) – is available in UKRO’s dedicated article.