Mariya Gabriel has served as both a member of the European Parliament and a member of the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch.
After two years as head of digital policy in the previous administration, Gabriel was put in charge of research, innovation, education, culture and youth policies by the current head of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Over the past four years she has overseen parts of the EU’s pandemic response, by coordinating efforts to fund vaccine research and establish a new health emergency authority.
Gabriel has also not shied away from playing politics with science-based policies, whether it was keeping the United Kingdom at arm’s length from the Horizon Europe research programme because of Brexit-related concerns or cutting Russia off from funding.
The Bulgarian politician’s somewhat surprising recall by her centre-right political party to national politics leaves the research job without a dedicated official to run it...