Asen Vasilev | |
|---|---|
| Асен Василев | |
 Vasilev in 2021 | |
| Minister of Finance | |
| Assumed office 6 June 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Nikolai Denkov |
| Preceded by | Rositsa Velkova-Zheleva |
| In office 13 December 2021 – 2 August 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Kiril Petkov |
| Preceded by | Valery Beltchev |
| Succeeded by | Rositsa Velkova-Zheleva |
| In office 12 May 2021 – 16 September 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Stefan Yanev |
| Preceded by | Kiril Ananiev |
| Succeeded by | Valery Beltchev |
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| In office 19 October 2022 – 6 June 2023 | |
| Constituency | 29th MMC - Haskovo |
| Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria | |
| In office 13 December 2021 – 2 August 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Kiril Petkov |
| Preceded by | Galab Donev Boyko Rashkov |
| Succeeded by | Atanas Pekanov |
| Co-Leader of We Continue the Change | |
| Assumed office 19 September 2021 Serving with Kiril Petkov | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism | |
| In office 13 March 2013 – 29 May 2013 | |
| Prime Minister | Marin Raykov |
| Preceded by | Delyan Dobrev |
| Succeeded by | Dragomir Stoynev |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Asen Vaskov Vasilev 9 September 1977 Haskovo, PR Bulgaria |
| Political party | We Continue the Change |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Occupation |
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Asen Vaskov Vasilev (Bulgarian: Асен Васков Василев; born 9 September 1977) is a Bulgarian politician, economist, and entrepreneur. He is the co-leader of We Continue the Change, a political movement he co-founded with Kiril Petkov.[1] Since 6 June 2023 he has served as the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria.
Vasilev earned a degree in economics from Harvard University in 2000 and continued studies at Harvard Business School.[2][3][4]
Vasilev is a co-founder and president of Everbeard, an airline ticket pricing company. It is partly funded by the Singapore National Research Fund and the first Skype investor.[5]
Vasilev was the co-founder and director of the Centre for Economic Strategy and Competitiveness. He is a lecturer in the Program for Economic Growth and Development, a branch of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski” and with the Centre for Strategy and Competitiveness of Harvard Business School.[6]
From 1999 to 2004, Vasilev worked as a consultant for Monitor Group in the US, Canada, Europe, and South Africa. He managed marketing and strategic development projects for large international companies in the fields of telecommunications, energy, mining, insurance, and several major consumer goods manufacturers.[7]
In 2013 Vasilev was Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism in the caretaker government of Marin Raykov. From 12 May to 16 September 2021, he was Minister of Finance in the caretaker government of Stefan Yanev.
On 19 September 2021, together with Kiril Petkov, Vasilev presented his new political project "We continue the change".[8][9] He was the leader of the party list in Haskovo and Sofia 23 for the 2021 Bulgarian general election on 14 November.[10] The party won the most seats in the new parliament and formed a coalition government on 13 December 2021.
Vasilev became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in the short-lived Petkov government.[11][12]
The Petkov government's mandate ended in late June 2022 after Prime Minister Kiril Petkov resigned following a no-confidence vote, and on 1 July President Rumen Radev asked Vasilev to form a new government.[13]
One week later as prescribed by the constitution Vasilev informed the president that his party only had the support of 117 members, falling four short of the majority. "Unfortunately, we failed to gather enough support to implement the politics that our...government would have wanted to push through. We could not get the support needed to rid Bulgaria of corruption and make the state work for the people, instead of channeling taxpayers’ money into a few select companies that can use it to corrupt the political class. We hope that in the next elections, the additional four deputies will be elected by the people."[14]