European Commission (2010–2016)
Georgieva's confirmation hearing took place at the European Parliament on 4 February 2010. She faced questions over her suitability for the portfolio. Georgieva identified Haiti as a priority, especially the need to provide shelter and health services and to restore the functions and services of the government, so as to start work on reconstruction and long-term development.
Other key issues raised in discussions with members of the European Parliament (MEPs) included improving co-ordination within the EU and European Commission, and between humanitarian and military players in order to meet the dual challenge posed by expanding needs and shrinking budgets. The need to improve the effectiveness of EU actions and for better response capacity had also been stressed, together with the establishment of the European Voluntary Humanitarian Corps.
Georgieva received a warm response from MEPs, with British S&D MEP Michael Cashman praising her "honesty and deep breadth of knowledge". She was applauded by committee members when she told British ECR Group MEP Nirj Deva that she would stand up for the interests of the EU and be an independent mind.
Slovenian ALDE Group MEP Ivo Vajgl also praised her, saying, "Let me compliment you on your peaceful manner and the confidence you are exuding today." Her performance at the hearing was widely publicized in Bulgaria and broadcast live on many national media, where it was seen as a question of the restoration of national honor following Jeleva's unsuccessful hearing.
The second college of the Barroso Commission, including Georgieva, was approved by the European Parliament on 9 February 2010 by a vote of 488–137 with 72 abstentions, and she took office the following day.
In this role, Georgieva worked to direct the available EU resources towards helping people in need: those caught up in humanitarian crises and those affected by disasters ranging from catastrophic earthquakes to pollution spills. Immediately after taking office she took responsibility for coordinating the EU's humanitarian response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and as a result the EU became the primary humanitarian donor.
Georgieva tripled funding for the refugee crisis in Europe. She launched the European Emergency Response and Coordination Centre to strengthen the EU's disaster response capacity by focusing on preparedness and prevention.
She was involved in coordinating the EU response to the earthquake in Chile and the floods in Pakistan. Amid the Southeast Europe floods in May 2014, Georgieva coordinated post-disaster assistance and helped prepare Serbia's request for aid of as much as €1 billion a year.
In May 2015, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed her and Nazrin Shah of Perak as co-chairs of the High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing, an initiative aimed at preparing recommendations for the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit. The High Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing secured the adoption of a much more effective system to meet the needs of record numbers of vulnerable people.
In 2014, news media reported that the ambassadors of several Western EU countries early on indicated their countries' support for Georgieva to be nominated for the incoming Juncker Commission, indicating that she might get the post of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Her candidacy had been uncertain because of political infighting in Bulgaria. The collapse of the Socialist government, however, cleared the path for her nomination. By August, Georgi Bliznashki, Bulgaria's interim prime minister, announced her candidacy to replace Britain's Catherine Ashton.
Incoming European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker instead assigned the post of vice-president for Budget and Human Resources to Georgieva, with experienced EU civil servant Florika Fink-Hooijer as her chef de cabinet. She was thus the most senior technocrat in the Juncker Commission, the only one of the seven vice-presidents never to have served as a national minister.
In this role, sometimes referred to as the Commission's chief operating officer, she oversaw the EU's €161 billion budget, 33,000 staff, and reporting to the European Parliament, the Council, and the European Court of Auditors on how the budget of the European Union is spent. Within months of taking her new position, Georgieva was able to negotiate a several-billion-dollar budget increase for 2014.
Georgieva set up the European Solidarity Corps in December 2016, which replaced the European Voluntary Service. Georgieva also worked to increase the representation of women in the Commission's senior and middle management.
