PROFILE: Bulgaria's new president has a business pedigree

By Elena Lalova Oct 31, 2011, 7:25 GMT

Sofia - Bulgarians on Sunday cemented the authority of the conservative GERB party by electing the former businessman and regional development minister Rosen Plevenliev as the country's new president.

Though the office carries little real power, with Plevenliev's triumph the minority GERB government and its leader, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, have won an important battle halfway through their term, just as support of their allies began to crumble.

In a country that has lost hundreds of millions of dollars of EU assistance to corruption, Plevenliev earned a good name as cabinet minister by efficiently managing EU funds for infrastructure.

He tries to manage the country as a company, he says. 'For me, only the results count.'

In line with the GERB 'clean hands' policy, Plevenliev also often says that he wants to improve his country's image, tarnished in recent years by the blatant corruption.

A information-technology engineer, Plevenliev left Bulgaria after the fall of Communism in 1989 and launched his construction business in Germany.

After a tough start, he developed it enough to start a subsidiary in his homeland by 1994.

With a German partner, he developed the Sofia Business Park and a modern residential settlement, both of which still rank among the largest foreign investments in Bulgaria.

During the campaign, he promised further development of infrastructure, which in Bulgaria still lags behind EU standards. Bulgaria joined the bloc together with its northern neighbour Romania in 2007.

Without it, he stressed, Bulgaria cannot expect a larger inflow of badly needed foreign investment.

Plevenliev's critics point to his limited political experience as a shortcoming and voice concern that with 'his' president, Borisov now has too much power.

He replaces Socialist Georgi Parvanov, who, after a maximum two terms in the office, was not eligible to run again.

The new president is married and has three children.