Andrey Kovatchev
Encyclopedia
Dr. Andrey Kovatchev is a Bulgarian
politician, Member of the European Parliament
, a federalist and Head of the Bulgarian Delegation in the EPP Group in the European Parliament
. Dr. Andrey Kovatchev is a Chairman of the Union of the European Federalists in Bulgaria. Since 2011 he is a Vice President of the Union of the European Federalist.
Born on 13.12.1967 in Sofia
.
form Saarland University
, Germany
(1990 – 1995). Later he obtained a PhD in Biology from the same university.
. Between 2004 – 2009 Andrey Kovatchev was a Regional Director for Central and East Europe for Elsevier
.
).
Andrey Kovatchev became a Member of the European Parliament after the elections in 2009 form the ticket of PP GERB.
Since March 2011 Andrey Kovatchev has been a vice-president of the Union of European Federalists. Furthermore he is a Chairman of the Union of the European Federalists in Bulgaria.
and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
, the President of the EPP Group Mr. Joseph Daul
and the former President of the EP and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ’’Konrad Adenauer’’ Foundation Dr. Hans – Gert Poettering
.
A number of political ’’prisoners’’ from the communist era attended the conference. Among the participants were Bulgarians of Turkish origin persecuted during the so-called "Revival process" (a repressive campaign of the Bulgarian Communist Party
in the 80s which culminated in a mass exodus of reportedly more than 100,000 bulgarian Turks)http://www.andrey-kovatchev.eu/uploads/files/BrochureFinal_en.pdf , as well as many other citizens whose personal paths are connected with the communist repressive machine - the "State Security".
The event had enjoyed a great interest among the academic community, journalists, organization of people persecuted during the communist regime and citizens interested in the history of totalitarianism in Eastern Europe
.
According to the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek
who opened the conference: The Bulgarian opposition was important because it preserved European values - democracy, the right of ownership, the ideas of freedom of thought and expression – which are the basis of the European Union
.
From 2011 Dr. Andrey Kovatchev supports a website that brings to light the repressive methods of the communist regime in Bulgaria (1944-1989). This website- edited by Hristo Hristov – a journalist and participant in the conference - grew into the richest source of information on the former communist secret police
in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Communist party, as well as on documents concerning the influence of the communist secret police on the Bulgarian economic life after 1989 and the transition to democracy
and market economy
.
and legal changes made in 2011 by the Bulgarian Government seeking to limit the influence of the former State Security agents in the Bulgarian State and diplomacy.
According to Dr. Andrey Kovatchev ’’The law is not a whim of the Minister of Foreign Affairs as his opponents present it, this is continuation of a battle, as old as the Bulgarian transition. The new legislation limits the influence of communist secret services collaborators on Bulgaria's diplomacy. This battle is part of the struggle for transitional justice
of the Bulgarian society.
Andrey Kovatchev is an author of important amendments in EP the resolution on the 2010 Progress report on the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
. For the first time the Resolution "underlines the importance of the preservation and maintenance of the cultural heritage, which is a pillar of European values and principles" Furthermore the European Parliament "notes with regrets that numerous cemeteries, fresco inscriptions and artefacts, which belong to the Bulgarian cultural heritage, have been totally abandoned and ruined". http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&reference=P7-TA-2011-0151&language=BG&ring=B7-2011-0225
Dr. Andrey Kovatchev has expressed on numerous occasions his concern about ’’the discrimination in Macedonia, especially for the citizens who candid announced their Bulgarian self-consciousness. Unfortunately, in many cases these people have been abused and they have been victims of arbitrary judgments, denial of work rights, politically motivated arrests and imprisonment".
In Kovatchev's point of view it is very important for the integration of Macedonia in Europe that people are familiar with the objective history of their own country. A necessary step in this process is making public the archives of the communist secret services of former Yugoslavia
, as well as unveiling the names of those connected with the secret police. Andrey Kovatchev repeatedly reminds the Macedonian politicians the difficult steps of Bulgaria on its way to United Europe, last but not least because of the influence of the former secret services in the economic and political life of the country.
His advice to Serbia
is similar; he repeatedly sent a request to the authorities and representatives to review the archives of the Yugoslav communist secret services (The Department of State Security) and to submit them to the other former Yugoslav States.
Andrey Kovatchev is a supporter of the visa-free regime between the EU
and all Western Balkan countries. He staunchly opposes to the tendency to restore the visa regime with some of them, because ’’the experience shows that visas hinders the citizens to become well acquainted with United Europe.’’
, namely, that the EU member states should overcome the intergovernmental instinct in the economic area and move quicker towards creation of supranational mechanisms in the field of economic policy. His opinion for the single currency and its economic base is that it won’t be stable when the countries do not work together on issues of economic and budgetary nature.
, a small part of the MEPs are be elected with a trans-national European lists thus forming an EU constituency. According to Kovatchev, the initiative is an unambiguous sign that the federal project is the only way toward for Europe. Despite the divisions in almost all parliamentary groups and the strong opposition from leading MEPs in the EPP, the Bulgarian MEP asserts that the rejection of this proposal by the new reinvigorated European Parliament would be surrender to national populism. For him and many other federalist, pan – European lists expand the political space from the regional and national to the supranational. Such European representation would strengthen the legitimacy of the European political parties.
As a next step for strengthening the democratic legitimacy of EU institutions, Dr. Andrey Kovatchev proposes to merge the position of President of the European Council
and the European Commission
in one President of the European Union who could be elected by the European citizens directly.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
politician, Member of the European Parliament
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
, a federalist and Head of the Bulgarian Delegation in the EPP Group in the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
. Dr. Andrey Kovatchev is a Chairman of the Union of the European Federalists in Bulgaria. Since 2011 he is a Vice President of the Union of the European Federalist.
Born on 13.12.1967 in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
.
Education
Andrey Kovatchev has a degree in BiologyBiology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
form Saarland University
Saarland University
Saarland University is a university located in Saarbrücken, the capital of the German state of Saarland, and Homburg. It was founded in 1948 in Homburg in co-operation with France and is organized in 8 faculties that cover all major fields of science...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(1990 – 1995). Later he obtained a PhD in Biology from the same university.
Work Experience
In the period 1995 – 1998 Dr. Andrey Kovatchev was a University assistant in Saarland University, Germany. Later he did a traineeship at the European Parliament. In 1998 he became a Commercial Director at Alfa Laval Agri and in 2002 he became a Commercial Manager for John DeereJohn Deere
John Deere was an American blacksmith and manufacturer who founded Deere & Company, one of the largest and leading agricultural and construction equipment manufacturers in the world...
. Between 2004 – 2009 Andrey Kovatchev was a Regional Director for Central and East Europe for Elsevier
Elsevier
Elsevier is a publishing company which publishes medical and scientific literature. It is a part of the Reed Elsevier group. Based in Amsterdam, the company has operations in the United Kingdom, USA and elsewhere....
.
Political career
From 2007 Andrey Kovatchev is a Vice- chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy and European Affairs and Vice – International Secretary of political party GERB (Citizens for European Development of BulgariaCitizens for European Development of Bulgaria
Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria , abbreviated GERB , is a Bulgarian centre-right political party established on March 13 2006. It has been Bulgaria's ruling party since 2009....
).
Andrey Kovatchev became a Member of the European Parliament after the elections in 2009 form the ticket of PP GERB.
Since March 2011 Andrey Kovatchev has been a vice-president of the Union of European Federalists. Furthermore he is a Chairman of the Union of the European Federalists in Bulgaria.
Activities and positions in the European Parliament
Dr. Andrey Kovatchev is a Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the European Parliament; the Subcommittee on Security and Defence and the Delegation for Relations with the United States; He is a Substitute of the Committee on Regional Development and in the Delegation for Relations with the countries of Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Communism and Transition
On 17 November 2010 Dr. Andrey Kovatchev organized a Conference in the European Parliament on The endured European Dream of Bulgaria 1944 – 1989. Senior leaders of the European Parliament and the EPP Group took part in the event, including the President of the European Parlaiment Mr. Jerzy BuzekJerzy Buzek
Jerzy Karol Buzek is a Polish engineer, academic lecturer and politician who was the ninth post-Cold War Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001...
, the President of the EPP Group Mr. Joseph Daul
Joseph Daul
Joseph Daul is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament for the East of France. He is a member of the Union for a Popular Movement , a member-party of the European People's Party...
and the former President of the EP and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ’’Konrad Adenauer’’ Foundation Dr. Hans – Gert Poettering
Hans-Gert Pöttering
Hans-Gert Pöttering is a German conservative politician , and was the President of the European Parliament from January 2007 to July 2009...
.
A number of political ’’prisoners’’ from the communist era attended the conference. Among the participants were Bulgarians of Turkish origin persecuted during the so-called "Revival process" (a repressive campaign of the Bulgarian Communist Party
Bulgarian Communist Party
The Bulgarian Communist Party was the communist and Marxist-Leninist ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 1990 when the country ceased to be a communist state...
in the 80s which culminated in a mass exodus of reportedly more than 100,000 bulgarian Turks)http://www.andrey-kovatchev.eu/uploads/files/BrochureFinal_en.pdf , as well as many other citizens whose personal paths are connected with the communist repressive machine - the "State Security".
The event had enjoyed a great interest among the academic community, journalists, organization of people persecuted during the communist regime and citizens interested in the history of totalitarianism in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
.
According to the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek
Jerzy Buzek
Jerzy Karol Buzek is a Polish engineer, academic lecturer and politician who was the ninth post-Cold War Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001...
who opened the conference: The Bulgarian opposition was important because it preserved European values - democracy, the right of ownership, the ideas of freedom of thought and expression – which are the basis of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
.
From 2011 Dr. Andrey Kovatchev supports a website that brings to light the repressive methods of the communist regime in Bulgaria (1944-1989). This website- edited by Hristo Hristov – a journalist and participant in the conference - grew into the richest source of information on the former communist secret police
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Communist party, as well as on documents concerning the influence of the communist secret police on the Bulgarian economic life after 1989 and the transition to democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and market economy
Market economy
A market economy is an economy in which the prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system. This is often contrasted with a state-directed or planned economy. Market economies can range from hypothetically pure laissez-faire variants to an assortment of real-world mixed...
.
Reform in Bulgaria's Diplomatic Service
Dr. Andrey Kovatchev is a Member of the Working Group in the EP for Reconciliation of European Histories. He is the supporter of opening the communist archives of all former communist countries. In particular he supported the 2011 reform in the Bulgarian diplomatic serviceDiplomatic service
Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel enjoy diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to other countries...
and legal changes made in 2011 by the Bulgarian Government seeking to limit the influence of the former State Security agents in the Bulgarian State and diplomacy.
According to Dr. Andrey Kovatchev ’’The law is not a whim of the Minister of Foreign Affairs as his opponents present it, this is continuation of a battle, as old as the Bulgarian transition. The new legislation limits the influence of communist secret services collaborators on Bulgaria's diplomacy. This battle is part of the struggle for transitional justice
Transitional justice
Transitional justice generally refers to a range of approaches that states may use to address past human rights violations and includes both judicial and non-judicial approaches. They include series of actions or policies and their resulting institutions, which may be enacted at a point of...
of the Bulgarian society.
European Integration of the Western Balkans
In his role as a Member of the European Parliament, Dr. Andrey Kovatchev pays significant attention to the Western Balkans and their European perspective. He considers that the integration of Western Balkans is the only way to peace and prosperity in this region, Andrey Kovatchev has stated many times his support to the reformist governments with a European orientation.Andrey Kovatchev is an author of important amendments in EP the resolution on the 2010 Progress report on the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
. For the first time the Resolution "underlines the importance of the preservation and maintenance of the cultural heritage, which is a pillar of European values and principles" Furthermore the European Parliament "notes with regrets that numerous cemeteries, fresco inscriptions and artefacts, which belong to the Bulgarian cultural heritage, have been totally abandoned and ruined". http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&reference=P7-TA-2011-0151&language=BG&ring=B7-2011-0225
Dr. Andrey Kovatchev has expressed on numerous occasions his concern about ’’the discrimination in Macedonia, especially for the citizens who candid announced their Bulgarian self-consciousness. Unfortunately, in many cases these people have been abused and they have been victims of arbitrary judgments, denial of work rights, politically motivated arrests and imprisonment".
In Kovatchev's point of view it is very important for the integration of Macedonia in Europe that people are familiar with the objective history of their own country. A necessary step in this process is making public the archives of the communist secret services of former Yugoslavia
Former Yugoslavia
The former Yugoslavia is a term used to describe the present day states which succeeded the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia....
, as well as unveiling the names of those connected with the secret police. Andrey Kovatchev repeatedly reminds the Macedonian politicians the difficult steps of Bulgaria on its way to United Europe, last but not least because of the influence of the former secret services in the economic and political life of the country.
His advice to Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
is similar; he repeatedly sent a request to the authorities and representatives to review the archives of the Yugoslav communist secret services (The Department of State Security) and to submit them to the other former Yugoslav States.
Andrey Kovatchev is a supporter of the visa-free regime between the EU
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and all Western Balkan countries. He staunchly opposes to the tendency to restore the visa regime with some of them, because ’’the experience shows that visas hinders the citizens to become well acquainted with United Europe.’’
Economic Governance in the EU
Andrey Kovatchev is among the supporters of common economic governance in the EU. He asserts that the single currency should be supported by economic and fiscal policies and coordination at supranational level. His views in this respect are federalistFederalist
The term federalist describes several political beliefs around the world. Also, it may refer to the concept of federalism or the type of government called a federation...
, namely, that the EU member states should overcome the intergovernmental instinct in the economic area and move quicker towards creation of supranational mechanisms in the field of economic policy. His opinion for the single currency and its economic base is that it won’t be stable when the countries do not work together on issues of economic and budgetary nature.
Position on constitutional affairs of the EU
Andrey Kovatchev is supportive of the pan-European lists for European Parliament Elections. According to the measure, proposed by British liberal MEP Andrew DuffAndrew Duff
Andrew Duff OBE is a Liberal Democrat politician, president of the Union of European Federalists, and a Member of the European Parliament for the East of England region of the UK....
, a small part of the MEPs are be elected with a trans-national European lists thus forming an EU constituency. According to Kovatchev, the initiative is an unambiguous sign that the federal project is the only way toward for Europe. Despite the divisions in almost all parliamentary groups and the strong opposition from leading MEPs in the EPP, the Bulgarian MEP asserts that the rejection of this proposal by the new reinvigorated European Parliament would be surrender to national populism. For him and many other federalist, pan – European lists expand the political space from the regional and national to the supranational. Such European representation would strengthen the legitimacy of the European political parties.
As a next step for strengthening the democratic legitimacy of EU institutions, Dr. Andrey Kovatchev proposes to merge the position of President of the European Council
European Council
The European Council is an institution of the European Union. It comprises the heads of state or government of the EU member states, along with the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council, currently Herman Van Rompuy...
and the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
in one President of the European Union who could be elected by the European citizens directly.