Georgi Pirinski (MEP)
Member of the EU Parliament; Former Chairman of the National Assembly of Bulgaria
Biography
Georgi Pirinski was born in New York City in 1948, where his family had emigrated following his father's involvement in the unsuccessful Communist uprising against the Bulgarian regime in 1923. However, around 1951 they were expelled from the US, as his father was deemed an undesirable alien. Due to Pirinski's birth in the US, he was granted US citizenship which would later hinder his political endeavours back in Bulgaria.In the late 70's, Pirinski was an aide to then Deputy Prime Minister Georgi Lukanov and at the age of 31 he became Bulgaria's youngest Deputy Minister, serving as Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade. In 1974 he renounced his US citizenship. Later, in 1996 Pirinski was a likely candidate for President of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, (BSP) however he the Constitutional Court barred him from participating in the presidential election due to his-albeit renounced- US citizenship.
He served as vice-premier during the governments of Geordi Atanasov and Andrey Lukanov, before becoming foreign minister. Pirinski then served as Chairman of the National Assembly of Bulgaria, a post he held from 2005 until last summer, when he was succeeded by Tsetska Tsacheva.
