Cablegate: Introducing Bulgaria's New Defense and Foreign

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/21/2020
TAGS: PGOV EFIN ECON PREL BU
SUBJECT: INTRODUCING BULGARIA'S NEW DEFENSE AND FOREIGN
MINISTERS

Classified By: AMB James Warlick for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

1. (C) Summary: Bulgaria's new Minister of Foreign Affairs
-- former Defense Minister Nikolay Mladenov -- is a dynamic,
strategic thinker who will put a young, modern face on
Bulgarian foreign relations. To replace Mladenov at the MOD,
PM Borissov has tapped Deputy Defense Minister Anyu Angelov,
a respected military insider with 40 years of experience but
lacking the charisma and vision of his predecessor. End
Summary.

2. (SBU) Former Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva's failed
European Commissioner bid and subsequent resignation on
January 19 forced Prime Minister Boyko Borissov to initiate
an impromptu cabinet reshuffle. Lacking an appropriate
alternative, Borissov moved his talented and dynamic Defense
Minister, Nickolay Mladenov, to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (MFA) and placed Deputy Minister of Defense Anyu
Angelov into the top spot at MOD. The two were confirmed in
their new positions on January 27.

3. (C) Mladenov, 37, is one of the youngest and brightest
stars in Borissov's cabinet. A former Member of the European
Parliament (MEP), Mladenov was the first person to become
Minister of Defense without military experience. Mladenov is
modern-thinking and western oriented. He is dynamic, with a
famous work ethic and the strategic vision to challenge
entrenched interests inside the military and his ministry.
While Minister of Defense, Mladenov made deepening the United
States-Bulgaria relationship his top priority and worked to
expand deployments to Afghanistan and find creative new uses
for the joint bases. While he made progress, much of his
time and attention was drawn into cleaning up the legal,
structural, and budgetary mess left behind by the previous
Minister. We can expect Mladenov to take his reformist,
transatlanic attitude with him to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (MFA). It is rumored that he will continue to have
input into important security decisions, though how this will
work in practice is not yet clear. He will undoubtedly
represent Bulgaria well in his new role and will put a young,
modern face on Bulgaria.

4. (C) Taking over at the MOD will be Anyu Angelov, 67, a
retired Lieutenant-General with a distinguished career in the
Bulgarian Army. In his more than 40 years of service, he
reached the position of Deputy Chief of General Staff in
1994, and served as Defense Attache to the United Kingdom
from 1997-2000. While Angelov has extensive military
experience, he lacks Mladenov's vision and charisma and, due
to his long military career, may be less willing to tackle
entrenched interests. Angelov is detail-oriented and has had
success in hammering out complicated changes to rules and
regulations. He first gained prominence inside the MOD when
he was put in charge of the working group that developed the
first Defense Law in 1995 and played an instrumental role in
the development of several other important documents
including the Military Service Personnel Regulations and
Armed Forces Regulations (1996-1997) and Law on Bulgaria's
National Security Forces Reserve (2002).

5. (C) Comment: The MOD's loss of Mladenov is the MFA's
gain. With his reformist bent, Mladenov is likely to embark
on a full-scale review and restructuring of a demoralized
MFA, which has long had difficulty attracting young talent.
At Defense, Angelov has big shoes to fill. The selection of
his close advisors and his replacement as Deputy Minister
will signal if he is prepared to challenge the status quo and
push for needed reform.

WARLICK

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