Atanas Pekanov Returns to the Bulgarian Government

"I am honoured by the invitation by Prime Minister Radew to participate in Bulgaria's next regular government. Bulgaria is facing many challenges and our cabinet will work on improving the economic and fiscal situation and implementing crucial reforms across all sectors. In my portfolio, we will move rapidly to continue our previous successful work on the Recovery and Resilience Plan. We aim to swiftly deliver the outstanding reforms on the rule of law and anti-corruption in close cooperation with European institutions, while working on the difficult challenges in the energy sector. There will be no radical changes in our foreign policy, but Bulgaria will be a much more active and worthy participant in European processes", says Atanas Pekanov.

Gabriel Felbermayr considers Atanas Pekanov's recent appointment as confirmation of WIFO's international orientation and academic quality. "Atanas Pekanov is a prime example of the many outstanding young economists from a wide variety of countries who work at WIFO. He combines excellent expertise in economic policy with a distinctly European mindset and a willingness to take on societal responsibility. The fact that a WIFO economist is once again taking on such a central political role in an EU member country is also a testament to our institute's high international reputation", says Felbermayr. Pekanov will – as was the case during his previous role as Deputy Prime Minister – be on leave from WIFO for the duration of his political term of office.

Atanas Pekanov is a Bulgarian macroeconomist and holds a PhD in macroeconomics. Since 2017 he has been working at the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) as a senior economist on European affairs, and teaches economic policy as a lecturer at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. He has published articles in the area of monetary and fiscal policy, the EU budget and EMU architecture.

He previously served as Deputy Prime Minister for the Management of European Funds in the caretaker cabinets "Yanev" (2021) and "Donev" (2022 to 2023), with a focus on the Recovery and Resilience Plan, other European programs and the preparation for euro and OECD accession. He is an expert on monetary policy for the European Parliament as part of the Monetary Policy Dialogue. He was a Fulbright visiting researcher at the Economics Department of Harvard University in 2019. He has also won prestigious awards from the Austrian Economic Association (NOeG), the Bulgarian National Bank, and Schmidt Futures Fund. He has worked at the European Central Bank. He recently contributed to the latest publication of the European University Institute in Florence on the future of Europe – the Florence Report. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Vienna and a master's degree in economic policy from University College London.