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Quick facts for kids Rosen Zhelyazkov
Росен Желязков
Official portrait, 2023

Prime Minister of Bulgaria
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 January 2025
President	Rumen Radev
Deputy	See list Tomislav Donchev Atanas Zafirov Grozdan Karadzhov
Preceded by	Dimitar Glavchev
Speaker of the National Assembly
In office 19 April 2023 – 25 April 2024
Preceded by	Vezhdi Rashidov
Succeeded by	Raya Nazaryan
Member of the National Assembly
In office 21 July 2021 – 16 January 2025
Constituency	1st — Blagoevgrad
Minister of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications
In office 20 September 2018 – 12 May 2021
Prime Minister	Boyko Borisov
Preceded by	Ivaylo Moskovski
Succeeded by	Georgi Todorov

Personal details
Born	Rosen Dimitrov Zhelyazkov (1968-04-05) 5 April 1968 (age 57) Sofia, PR Bulgaria
Political party	GERB
Children	2
Alma mater	Sofia University
Occupation	Politician lawyer

Rosen Dimitrov Zhelyazkov (Bulgarian: Росен Димитров Желязков, born 5 April 1968) is a Bulgarian politician who is the current Prime Minister of Bulgaria since 2025. A member of the GERB party, he previously served as Speaker of the National Assembly from 2023 to 2024, Member of the National Assembly from 2021 to 2025 and Minister of Transport from 2018 to 2021.

Early life, education and career
Political career
See also

Early life, education and career

He was born on 5 April 1968, in Sofia. He received a master's degree in Law from Sofia University. In 1994, he began his career as a legal advisor at the Sofia Municipality's Sredets district, where he has held senior legal positions, as well as positions in the local municipal administration. In 1995, he was accepted into the Sofia Lawyers Association as a lawyer specialising in civil and commercial law.

Political career

Municipal Administration

Zhelyazkov's first political position came between 1998 and 1999, when he was appointed as deputy mayor for "Law and Control" of Lozenets district, Sofia Municipality.

In 2003 he was appointed as secretary of the Sofia Municipality by Stefan Sofiyanski, and was re-appointed to the role after the election of Boyko Borisov in 2005. In 2009 he was appointed by Borisov to serve as Secretary to the Ministerial Council, a position responsible for the administrative functions of the cabinet.

State Adminstrator

Zhelyazkov served as Secretary to the Ministerial Cabinet between 2009 and 2013, first serving under Boyko Borisov and being re-appointed by Caretaker Prime Minister, Marin Raykov. Besides being the secretary of the cabinet, Zhelyazkov also served as chairman of the governing board of the Institute for Public Administration between 2011 and 2013, and represented Bulgaria at the European Institute for Public Administration (EIPA).

As secretary to the cabinet during the Raykov Government, Zhelyazkov was implicated in the so-called "Kostinbrod affair" surrounding the 2013 Bulgarian parliamentary election. A number of political parties, specifically the BSP alleged that around 350,000 ballots were printed illegally in Kostinbrod, with authorisation from the caretaker government. As part of the investigation into the affair, Zhelyazkov was charged by the Prosecutor's Office for alleged negligence of his duty to oversee the correct printing of ballot papers. Ultimately, however, the Sofia City Court find no evidence of wrongdoing by Zhelyazkov and ruled that he was innocent in 2014.

Between and 2014-2016 Zhelyazkov was appointed as an advisor to Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on the topic public administration and e-Government. In this role, he helped develop legislation concerning the implementation of e-government in Bulgaria and represented Bulgaria at the annual summit for open government partnership.

Zhelyazkov was nominated for the position of Chairman of the Commission for the Protection of Competitiveness (CPC) by GERB, in April 2016, however ended up withdrawing his candidacy due to a lack of competition, as well as an appeal by Boyko Borisov for GERB to withdraw from the process.

On 30 September 2016 he was appointed Chairman of the newly-created State e-Government Agency. In this role, Zhelyazkov was responsible for overseeing the digitalisation of state services and the implementation of online solutions for state-issued documents.

In October 2017, he was appointed as head of the Commission for the Regulation of Messages (CRM), responsible for overseeing the postal, radio and e-signature state services.

Minister of Transport

On 20 September 2018, he was elected by the National Assembly as Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications. His appointment to the position came following the resignation of the previous Minister of Transport, Ivaylo Moskovski, following a traffic accident near the town of Svoge.

Shortly after his election, Zhelyazkov promised to coordinate his activity closely with the National Assembly and aimed to continue the programs started by his predecessor.

In his first acts as Minister, Zhelyazkov decided to cease the concession of Plovdiv Airport following the withdrawal of the previous concessioners of the airport. Additionally, he chose to extend the deadline for the concession of Sofia Airport.

In November, 2018, Zhelyazkov announced a change in the long-time leadership of the Bulgarian State Railways, following a number of allegations of mismanagement of funds by the prior leadership, as well as a lack of communication with the Transport Minister.

During negotiations about the implementation of new amendments to the EU "mobility package", which aimed to regulate the status of inter-state logistical networks, Zhelyazkov opposed the proposed amendments for weakening workers in the Bulgarian transportation sector and supported protests organised by them. In January, 2019, Zhelyazkov announced that Bulgaria had managed to gain certain concessions about the status of Bulgarian lorry drivers during negotiations with EU institutions, although the concessions were judged as unsatisfactory by the lorry drivers union.

Another challenge faced by Zhelyazkov were allegations by the Bulgarian Socialist Party that the contract for the concession of Sofia Airport was contrary to European legal practices, due to demonstrating undue favouritism to a private firm. He denied these allegations, highlighting that the contract only restricted the rights of the state, and not other private companies. Ultimately, despite obstructions from the BSP, the airport in Sofia was conceded to the company "Sof Connect" in June, 2019. The choice of Sof Connect was challenged legally by a number of other participants in the process, for alleged uncompetative practices of the Transport Ministry. The official contract of the concession was signed by Zhelyazkov on the 22nd of July, 2020.

In February, 2019, the bus drivers union of Bulgaria threatened to hold a national strike due to unclear regulations surrounding the distribution of state subsidies to the sector. In response, a number of measures were announced to improve the working conditions of bus drivers and improve the distribution of state funds.

In an interview to BTV, Zhelyazkov admitted that wide spread corruption remained a key problem in the "Automobile administration" department, and promised to look to adress its "structural" causes. Looking to reduce the beuracratic burden on car registrations, he proposed a law that allowed car owners to recieve a technical check-up of their vehicles conducted by private firms, rather then exclusively by the automobile administration. The law was criticised by the BSP and some media outlets for allegedly enabling criminal activity.

In his role as Minister, he oversaw the construction of 5G telecommunication infrastructure in Bulgaria.

In 2020, the Ministry of Transport decided to resume the process for the concession of Plovdiv Airport for a 35 year period.

In coordination with the Ministry of Education, Zhelyazkov attempted to implement a reform of the driving license examination requirements, including increasing the practical requirements, while reducing the theoretical requirements. The measure was opposed by driving schools, who alleged that the increased administrative burdens provided by the law, as well as the increase in practical hours, will lead to financial problems and over-work. Zhelyazkov defended the law, and claimed that the law would digitalise many elements of the examination process, thus in effect reducing corruption and formalised the sector. Ultimately, the planned reforms were not implemented.

As part of the government's efforts to combat the economic impacts of the COVID-19, he authorised the implementation of the 60/40 wage scheme within the transport sector.

Zhelyazkov's tenure as Minister of Transport ended following the dissolution of the Third Borisov Government in May, 2021.

Parliamentary activity & Speakership

He was a Member of Parliament (GERB-UDF) in the 45th, 46th, 47th, 48th and 49th National Assembly. On April 19, 2023, following an agreement between GERB-UDF and the second largest group in the National Assembly - PP-DB, Rossen Zhelyazkov was elected Parliament Chair with 136 votes in favour.

On 25 April 2024 Zhelyazkov was removed from the post of Chairperson of the National Assembly with 129 votes in favour.

On 1 July, Zhelyazkov was asked to form a minority government as prime minister by President Rumen Radev following the June 2024 Bulgarian parliamentary election. However, on 3 July, the National Assembly voted 138-98 to reject his proposed government.

Prime Minister of Bulgaria

The National Assembly voted in favour of the Zhelyazkov Government, with Zhelyazkov as Prime Minister on 16 January 2025.