Nikolai Denkov

Nikolai Denkov Denkov (, born 3 September 1962) is a Bulgarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2023 to 2024. A member of the PP party, he previously served as Member of the National Assembly from 2022 to 2023 and as Minister of Education and Science in 2017 and from 2021 to 2022. Denkov is a physicist, physical chemist and chemist. He is a member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and was a lecturer at the University of Sofia.

Early life

Nikolai was born on 3 September 1962, in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. After elementary school, he moved to the Bulgarian capital Sofia, where he graduated from the National Gymnasium for Science and Mathematics in 1980. In the same year he was a participant at the 12th International Chemistry Olympiad in Linz (Austria) he won a silver medal.

This was followed by a master's degree in chemistry and pharmacy at the St. Kliment-Ohridski University in Sofia, which he completed in 1987. In 1993, he defended his dissertation and obtained his doctorate.

For the early part of his career, Denkov worked as visiting researcher in JRDC (Japan), senior researcher in Rhone-Poulenc R&D (France), lead scientist in Unilever R&D (USA), and guest professor in France (ESPCI-Paris and Univ. Lille).

Academic career Denkov has been an adjunct lecturer since 1997 and professor of physical chemistry at the University of Sofia since 2008. Between 2008 and 2015 he was head of the faculty for technical chemistry and director of the master's course Disperse Systems in Chemical Technologies. He has been a doctor of chemistry since 2007. He specialized in Japan and at Uppsala University in Sweden and worked as a senior scientist in the research institutes of private companies such as Unilever (USA) and Rhône-Poulenc (France).

In 2010 he was awarded the highest national award "Pythagoras" for scientific achievements by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science. In 2013 he received the Medal of Honor with Blue Ribbon from the University of Sofia.

Prime Minister of Bulgaria (2023–2024)

Following the outcome of the Bulgarian parliamentary elections held in April 2023, on 22 May Denkov was projected to become Prime Minister of Bulgaria as part of a power-sharing agreement between the two most-voted coalitions, GERB—SDS and PP–DB. The deal implied that Denkov would lead the new government for the following nine months, before switching positions with Mariya Gabriel.

Following extensive talks between the two coalitions involved, as well as the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, an official agreement on the composition of the Denkov-Gabriel cabinet was reached on 2 June. The new government will focus on fighting Russian influence in Bulgaria's security sector and obtaining membership in the Schengen Area and the eurozone. A political crisis prompted Bulgaria to postpone adopting the euro until 2025. In December 2022, Austrian and Dutch opposition blocked Bulgaria and Romania from becoming members of the Schengen Area.

In September 2023, Denkov called Azerbaijan a "valuable partner" of Bulgaria. Denkov condemned Hamas' actions during the Gaza war and expressed his support to Israel.

On 30 December 2023, it became clear that Denkov's cabinet had secured membership for Bulgaria in the Schengen Area by air and sea. Although further negotiations in 2024 would be required to lift border controls by land,

Denkov resigned on 6 March 2024 as part of the power-sharing agreement with Gabriel. However, on 25 March, Gabriel withdrew her nomination for prime minister after announcing that negotiations on forming a new government with PP-DB had failed, and said that new elections would be held.

Post premiership (2024–present) On the evening of 1 December 2025 amidst large anger in Sofia over the 2026 Budget proposal that exacerbated the 2025 Bulgarian budget protests, Denkov said that 'Provocateurs with masks cannot replace the peaceful protest!' Denkov also said that the 2 reasons why they were protesting was because 'the people had been really fed up with the lies and that there were a number of lies related to the Budget that was discussed at the 1st or 2 December 2025.' And the other reason Denkov believes why the Protests have started was because 'The people who are Governing Bulgaria right now were Characterised with a-lot of arrogance and brutal force that they will impose their will which also included the Budget and that the reason for the protests wasn't just the Budget but also because the people were really fed up with it and that they want to say: "stop! It is not working this way!".'