Ekaterina Zaharieva is the European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation. She is a Bulgarian lawyer with a long political career. She held various post including Deputy Prime Minister for Judicial Reform, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policy, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Justice, Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, Head of Cabinet of the President, member of parliament. She specialized at ENA School of Administration, Paris, at the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) - Council of Europe, and at the Institute of Public Administration, Dublin, Ireland.