Parliamentary Dimension
Bulgarian Presidency
of the Council of the European Union

TSVETA KARAYANCHEVA

PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Tsveta Karayancheva started her political career as a municipal councilor in the town of Kardzhali. She was elected Member of the 41st, 42nd and 43rd National Assembly. She has been a Member of the standing parliamentary committees on regional policy, public works and local self-government, agriculture and forestry, and labor and social policy. She was elected Vice President of the Parliament within the current 44th National Assembly. On 17 November 2017 she was elected President of the Bulgarian Parliament. She is the Head of the National Assembly Delegation to the Interparliamentary Union as well as of the Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the South-East European Cooperation Process.

VALENTIN RADEV

Minister of Interior of the Republic of Bulgaria

Born on February 6th, 1958 in the town of Elin Pelin. Graduated from Artillery Academy in the town of Shumen as Armament Military Officer and Ammunition and Chemistry of Explosives Engineer, has also Masters’ Degree in Economics from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia. In 1991 he obtained a Doctor’s Degree in Ballistics and Aerodynamics from the Defence Research Institute in Sofia. Since 1996 he has been a research scientist, 2nd degree in the Defence Research Institute in Sofia. Graduated specialised courses in Russia, Canada, Czech Republic and Germany, as well as a course for senior officials in the George C. Marshal European Centre for Security Studies. Started his professional career as Head of Artillery Weapon Office in a Military Unit. Since 1983 he has been research scientist in the Defence Research Institute in Sofia. Later he was appointed Head of Ammunitions Department in the same institute and in the period 2000 – 2002 was the Director of the institute. In the period 1999 – 2000 he was Deputy Director of the Defence Advanced Research Institute (DARI) in Sofia.Valentin Radev was also associate professor at the University of National and World Economy and New Bulgarian University, as well as Chairperson of the Board of Directors of NITI Ltd in the town of Kazanlak and scientific secretary of the Specialised Scientific Council on Defence Engineering Sciences at the Supreme Attestation Committee. Since 2005 he has been the Chair of the Association of the Ammunition Specialists in Bulgaria, and since 2006 he has been a member of the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria.He has more than 130 scientific publications – scientific articles and reports, standards, etc. He is author of 17 products for military use which have been put in regular production and approved for use in the army; he also has mine patents, three industry designs, two trademarks and 17 rationalisations. Member of the Defence Expert Committee of GERB political party.In the period 2009-2013 he was Deputy Minister of Defence. Member of 42nd, 43rd and 44th National Assembly.On May 4th, 2017 he was appointed by the 44th National Assembly as Minister of Interior of the Republic of Bulgaria. Speaks English and Russian.

TSVETAN TSVETANOV

Chair of the Parliamentary group of PP “GERB”; Chair of the Committee on the Internal Security and Public Order

Tsvetan Tsvetanov is Chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Internal Security and Public Order in the 44th National Assembly of Bulgaria, Chairman of the parliamentary group of political party GERB (PP GERB) and Vice-Chairman of PP GERB. Mr. Tsvetanov served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior from 2009 to 2013. From 2013 he has been member of the 42nd, 43rd and 44th National Assemblies of Bulgaria. For the period 2005-2009, Tsvetanov was Deputy Mayor of Sofia Municipality in charge of Security, Coordination and Control. From 1987 to 2005 he was employed by the Ministry of Interior, where he held various positions including specialist, inspector, senior inspector, and head of sector (operational assistant to the secretary general of the Ministry of Interior). Tsvetanov holds a law degree from the Institute for Post-Graduate Studies at the University for National and World Economy in Sofia, as well as a number of additional qualifications from Spain, the US, Belgium, and Hungary. Tsvetanov holds honorary awards from the ministries of interior of Spain, Italy, and Lithuania, from Europol, as well as a number of international organizations for his work in the security sector.

CLAUDE MORAES

Member of the European Parliament for London and Chair of the European Parliament's Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE)

First elected to the European Parliament in 1999, he was the Socialists and Democrats Group Spokesperson in the European Parliament for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs from 2009 -2014. In July 2014, he was elected Chairman of the LIBE Committee. Prior to becoming an MEP, he was the Director of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, the UK independent migration and refugee charity, and the Chief Executive of the Immigrants' Aid Trust. In the UK, he has also held positions as Commissioner for Racial Equality (CRE) and was an elected Council member of Liberty from 1997 to 2002.

MARIYA GABRIEL

European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society

Mariya Gabriel is the European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society since July 2017. Within her overarching portfolio, she has as an overall objective the realisation of the Digital Single Market which should directly benefit the European citizens. She served as Member of the European Parliament from 2009 to July 2017. Being the EPP Group Vice-President, she tackled issues related to EU enlargement, Mediterranean region, Middle East and North Africa. She chaired the EUROMED Working Group and focused on various priorities, e.g. migration, security, fight against terrorism and radicalisation, EU external policy, Western Balkans, women`s rights. During her academic career, she worked in the area of International Relations, History of the European Institutions, Political Sociology and Comparative Politics.

Sir JULIAN KING

European Commissioner for Security Union

Sir Julian King was appointed Commissioner for Security Union on the 19th September 2016. He joined the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in 1985. He has held various positions, including: UK Ambassador to France (2016); Director General Economic & Consular (2014); DG of the Northern Ireland Office London and Belfast (2011); UK Ambassador to Ireland (2009); EU Commission Chef de Cabinet to Commissioner for Trade (2008); UK Representative on EU Political and Security Committee, (2004). Sir Julian is a graduate of Oxford University. He was awarded the KCVO in 2014; CVO in 2011 and CMG in 2006.

GIOVANNI BUTTARELLI

European Data Protection Supervisor

Mr. Giovanni Buttarelli (1957) has been appointment European Data Protection Supervisor since 4 December 2014 by a joint decision of the European Parliament and the Council for a term of five years. Before joining the EDPS, he worked as Secretary General to the Italian Data Protection Authority, a position he occupied between 1997 and 2009. A member of the Italian judiciary with the rank of Cassation judge, he has attended to many initiatives and committees on data protection and related issues at international level. The experience on data protection includes the participation in many bodies at European Union level (including Art. 31 Committee of Directive n. 95/46/EC and Taiex programs), and at the Council of Europe (in particular, also as a consultant, T‐PD; CJ‐PD, DH‐S‐Ac, Venice Commission), as well as the contribution to many hearings, meetings and workshops held also by Parliaments and to specialized book journals and papers. He currently teaches on privacy at the Luiss University, Rome.

WOJCIECH WIEWIÓROWSKI

Assistant European Data Protection Supervisor

Wojciech Wiewiórowski was born on June 13th 1971. In 1995 he graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk, and in 2000 he was awarded the academic degree of Doctor in constitutional law. After graduation he was editor and then publisher in legal publishing houses. In 2002 he began to work as lecturer at Gdańsk College of Administration, and since 2003 he was assistant professor and head of Legal IT Department at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk, with which he has been associated since 1995. Since 2006 he has been working for public administration. He was among others adviser in the field of e-government and information society for the Minister of Interior and Administration, as well as Vice-president of the Regulatory Commission of the Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church. In 2008 he took over the post of the Director of the Informatisation Department at the Ministry of Interior and Administration. He also represented Poland in committee on Interoperability Solutions for European Public Administrations (the ISA Committee) assisting the European Commission. He was also the member of the Archives Council to the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. He is a member of the Polish Association for European Law. In 2010 he was elected by Polish Parliament for the post of the Inspector General for the Protection of Personal Data (Polish Data Protection Commissioner) which he served by November 2014 being reelected for the second term in 2014. Vice Chairman of the Working Party Art. 29 since February till November 2014. The author of numerous studies, publications and lectures in the field of personal data protection, IT law, e-government and legal informatics. His areas of scientific activity include first of all Polish and European IT law, processing and security of information, legal information retrieval systems, informatisation of public administration, electronic signature and application of semantic web and legal ontologies in legal information processing.

ROB WAINWRIGHT

Executive Director of Europol

Rob Wainwright was appointed Director of Europol in April 2009. Mr Wainwright’s main priorities as Director have been to focus Europol's efforts on operational impact in priority crime areas. During his tenure, Europol has significantly strengthened its portfolio of operational support tools and services, most recently via the creation of the EU Internet Referral Unit (IRU) and the reinforcement of Europol's work to tackle migrant smuggling (creation of EMSC European Migrant Smuggling Centre).

OLDŘICH MARTINŮ

Deputy Executive Director Governance of Europol

Oldřich Martinů was born in the Czech Republic in 1965. He joined the police in 1986. Over the next ten years service in various positions of public order and later the criminal police, he reached the rank of Counsellor at the Directorate of the Czech Criminal Police. During that time he graduated (in 1990) from the Faculty of Public Order. He continued his studies and graduated in 1995 having followed studies in Criminal law and Public law at the Faculty of Law, Charles University in Prague. Between 1997 and 1999, Mr Martinů was the Director of the Czech National Central Bureau of Interpol at the Police Presidium. Between 1999 and 2002, he served, on promotion, as the Director of the Police Directorate of Central Bohemia. He thereafter served as the Deputy Police President at the Police Presidium of the Czech Republic. He was appointed Police President of the Czech Republic in 2007, a post he held for over three years. As the Chief of the Police, he was directly subordinate to the Minister of Interior responsible for the full scope of activities of the Police of the Czech Republic in the field of national security and public order. Together with the Minister of Interior he implemented a Reform of the Czech Police with a focus on streamlining of police services towards a higher level of safety and security. He also represented the Police of the Czech Republic internationally. He was the Czech Republic member of the Europol Management Board and a representative to the General Assembly of Interpol. Prior his appointment to Europol, Mr Martinu worked at the Police Presidium of the Czech Republic, where his activities focused mainly on EU police cooperation matters. He was promoted by the President of the Czech Republic to the rank Major General in 2009. In November 2011, he was appointed by the EU Council to his current post as Deputy Director of Europol with specific responsibility for Governance matters. Oldřich Martinů is married with two children.

PRITT PÄRKNA

Chairperson of the Management Board of Europol

The Chairperson of the Management Board of Europol, Mr Pritt Pärkna, is an Estonian senior police officer with 20 years of professional experience. Since 2014, he is Deputy Director General of the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board, responsible for Intelligence Management and Investigation. Mr Pärkna’s previous responsibilities were as Senior Superintendent in the Crimes against Persons Division within the country’s North Prefecture (2004 2005), Head of Division (2005-2008) and Head of Crime Bureau (2008 2014).

VLADIMIR REBIC

General Police Director, Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia

Mr. Rebić graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade. After graduation he started working in the Ministry of Defence thereafter he moved to the Ministry of Interior. Later he became responsible for monitoring and administrative affairs related to traffic safety in the Municipal Secretariat of Ministry of Interior in Užice. Between 1996 and 2002 he was appointed head of the Section for monitoring and administrative affairs in Užice, and then he was moved to Traffic Police Directorate, where he was tasked with training traffic police personnel. In 2007, Mr. Rebić was promoted to Head of Division for Interventional Control and Traffic Regulations, where he successfully trained several generations of participants of the Traffic Control and Regulations Course. In October 2008, Mr. Rebić became Head of the Department for Traffic Control and Regulations and, until mid-2009 he was actively involved in the drafting of the Road Traffic Safety Act. January 6th, 2010, he became Deputy Head of the Traffic Police Directorate where for the period of four years, Mr. Rebić was in charge of coordinating all police activities related to the adoption of the secondary legislation needed for the thorough implementation of the new Road Traffic Safety Act. In June 2014 he was promoted to the Head of the Traffic Police Directorate. In the beginning of 2016, Mr. Rebić was appointed to the position of acting General Police Director. Later in the same year (on 18 December), by a decision of the government, he was appointed to the position of General Police Director.

Ms. Sofiya Tsvetkova

Advisor, Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union Department

+ 359 2 939 30 02

[email protected]