Political groups

2009-present: Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats)

National parties

2009-present: Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria 

Biography

Andrey Kovatchev was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. He received a degree and PhD in Biology from Saarland University, Germany, and worked as an assistant at the university from 1995 to 1998. Later, he did a traineeship at the European Parliament. In 1998, Kovatchev became a Commercial Director at Alfa Laval Agri and in 2002 became a Commercial Manager for John Deere. Between 2004 and 2009, he was Regional Director for Central and East Europe for Elsevier.

Since 2007, Kovatchev has been a Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy and European Affairs and Vice-International Secretary of Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria. Between March 2011 and November 2018, he was Vice-President of the Union of European Federalists. On a national level, he is Chairman of the Union of the European Federalists in Bulgaria. 

He was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in the 2009 elections, and was re-elected in 2014, 2019 and 2024. Following the 2024 elections, he was elected Quaestor and thus member of the Parliament's Bureau, a position he already held from 2014-2019.

Kovatchev is a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament (member from 2009-2012, Vice-Chair from 2012-2014, member from 2014-2019 and again since 2024, substitute member from 2019-2024) and is a substitute in the Committee on Budgetary Control. He is a member of the Delegation to the EU-North Macedonia Joint Parliamentary Committee (D-MK) and of the Delegation to the EU-Türkiye Joint Parliamentary Committee (D-TR), as well as a substitute member of the Delegation for relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (DASE), of which he was already a substitute member from 2009-2014 and from 2019-2024.  

During the 9th parliamentary term, Kovatchev was a member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and of the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly/OACPS-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (DACP). He was also a substitute in the Subcommittee on Human Rights, the Committee on International Trade and the Delegation for relations with the United States (D-US).

Additionally, during the 7th parliamentary term, Kovatchev was a member of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence and of the Delegation for relations with the United States, as well as a substitute in the Committee on Regional Development. From 2014-2019 (8th parliamentary term), he remained a member of the Delegation for relations with the United States and was a member of the Subcommittee on Human Rights, as well as a substitute member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety.

Between 2020 and 2023, he was also a member of the Special Committee on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union.

Constituent meeting of the Delegation for relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). L-R: Sven Schulze, András Gyürk, Andrey Kovatchev, Angelika Niebler © European Union 2019 - European Parliament

Kovatchev was a member of the Working Group in the European Parliament for Reconciliation of European Histories. He supports the opening the communist archives of all former communist countries and particularly supported the 2011 reform in the Bulgarian diplomatic service and legal changes made in 2011 by the Bulgarian Government which sought to limit the influence of the former State Security agents in the Bulgarian State and diplomacy.

In his role as a Member of the European Parliament, Kovatchev pays significant attention to the Western Balkans and their perspectives on Europe. Considering the integration of the Western Balkans as only way to peace and prosperity in the region, he has iterated many times his support for reformist governments with a European orientation. 

For more information on his activities as an MEP, click here.

Selected plenary speeches

On 16 January 2019, in the topical debate on comprehensive European education, research and remembrance of the totalitarian past, Andrey Kovatchev emphasised the importance of education for the young generation in view of the threats posed by ignorance, manipulation and even nostalgia for times of totalitarian regimes:

On 28 November 2018, in the plenary debate on the Committee on Foreign Affairs' report on the 2018 Commission report on Montenegro, Andrey Kovatchev, in his capacity as shadow rapporteur, drew attention to the relevance of Euro-Atlantic integration and the EU membership perspective for the Western Balkans' cohesion:

In the plenary debate on the European integration process of Serbia on 28 March 2012, Andrey Kovatchev pointed to the importance of transparency and reconciliation for the integration of the Western Balkan countries in the EU:

What's in the archives?

These holdings focus substantially on questions concerning Parliament’s administration, as Andrey Kovatchev was a member of

• the Bureau (from 2014 to 2019, resulting in files containing information on the budget and administrative matters, including staff, the organisation of Parliament and the plenary session; from 2014 to 2017, he was also a member of the Working Group on Information and Communication Policy); 
• the College of Quaestors (from 2014 to 2019, leaving files on information on administrative matters directly related to Members).

Documents transferred to the Archives of the European Parliament include meeting files such as agendas, minutes and additional documents (notes, letters, reports, studies, plans). These are files collected or sent to Andrey Kovatchev as a participant in the meetings. Some documents contain handwritten notes and all documents relating to a meeting are identified with a reference number corresponding to the agenda item (the reference number is placed at the top of the document).