Iliana Ivanova

Iliana Naidenova Ivanova (Илиана Найденова Иванова; born 14 September 1975) is a Bulgarian economist who has been serving as European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth since 2023. She previouly was a member of the European Court of Auditors between 2013 and 2023.

Early life and education
Ivanova graduated from foreign language high school Romain Rolland in her hometown where she studied French and English. In 1998 she graduated with a bachelor's degree in International Economic Relations from the Economic University in Varna. In 2004 Ivanova defended her master’s thesis in International Finance at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona.

Early career
Ivanova worked as a coordinator for relations to international financial institutions at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.

Member of the European Parliament
From 2009 to 2012, Ivanova was a Member of the European Parliament. During that period, she served as Vice-chair of the Committee on Budgetary Control, Vice-chair of the Special Committee on the Economic, Financial and Social crisis, member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and as substitute member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. In addition to her committee assignments, she was one of the vice-chairs of the parliament's delegation to China.

Life after politics
As of the end of 2012, Ivanova has ceased all her political activities and affiliations. Since 1 January 2013 Ivanova has been serving as a Member of the European Court of Auditors. Ivanova was rapporteur for 27 audit reports, including topics such as regional development, cohesion, the Youth Unemployment Initiative and the Youth Guarantee, the European Digital Agenda and innovations, digital skills, education, as well as the instruments for the initial EU response to the COVID-19 crisis. She was elected Dean of Chamber II, responsible for auditing structural policies, transport, for three consecutive mandates. Since November 2022, she has been serving as Chair of the Audit quality control committee, with particular responsibility to oversee quality control of all RRF tasks across the ECA.

In June 2023, the government of Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov nominated both Ivanova and Daniel Lorer as potential successors to Mariya Gabriel as European Commissioner from Bulgaria. On 28 June 2023, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed to the European Parliament and the Council to appoint Ivanova to the post of Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.