Chairmanship of the Bulgarian Socialist Party In December 2001, Stanishev was elected Chairman of the BSP at the party's Congress, and also Chairman of the Parliamentary Group of the
Coalition for Bulgaria following the resignation of the previous holder of these positions,
Georgi Parvanov, after his victory in the 2001 presidential election. Since April 2004 Stanishev has also been a member of the presidency of the
Party of European Socialists (PES). Even though at the beginning older party members regarded him with suspicion due to his lack of experience, Stanishev has enjoyed considerable public approval, mainly because of his successful efforts to modernise the BSP. Stanishev succeed to modernise the BSP, leading it to fill membership to the
Socialist International and then to be member of the PES. He was elected as a member of the European Parliament for a second term in 2019.
Prime minister on 18 January 2008 In the general election of 25 June 2005 Stanishev was re-elected to the National Assembly, this time for a seat in
Burgas. Under his leadership the
Coalition for Bulgaria (a coalition dominated by the BSP) won 31% of the votes. Stanishev said that the next government "should be led by the party which won most votes in the elections." On 20 July, after nearly a month of political uncertainty, Stanishev agreed to attempt to form a Cabinet. On 27 July 2005 the Bulgarian Parliament chose him as the new Prime Minister in a coalition government, led by the BSP and
National Movement Simeon II in a partnership with the
Movement for Rights and Freedoms. The vote was 120 to 119. However, the parliament voted against Stanishev's proposed Cabinet by 119 to 117 votes. This was followed by another two weeks of political deadlock. Finally, on 15 August, Stanishev was able to form a three-party
grand coalition with the party of outgoing Prime Minister
Simeon Sakskoburggotski and with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, a Turkish minority party. Stanishev said the coalition's priorities would be "European integration, social responsibility and economic growth." He was elected Prime Minister by the Bulgarian parliament on 16 August with 168 in favour and 67 against, which is then sworn in. Sergey Stanishev is an avid pro-EU politician who is credited with reforming Bulgaria to the extent that he managed to steer his country to be among the last group of countries which joined the EU. Stanishev said Bulgaria's entrance to the EU was the final fall of the Berlin Wall for his nation, while EU President
Jose Manuel Barroso hailed Bulgaria for having "gone through a remarkable transformation" in order to join. The European Commission's report on Bulgaria and Romania's accession had confirmed that after seven years of talks, Bulgaria and Romania were able to take on the rights and obligations of EU membership. Reading the report, Barroso said the two nations' entry would be a "historic achievement". In June 2008 Stanishev drew criticism from human rights advocates for his remarks regarding Bulgaria's first gay pride parade; the Prime Minister said he did not approve of "the manifestation and demonstration of such orientations." Also in June 2008
The Guardian published an article highly critical of planned real estate development in a pristine seacoast area under
EU environmental protection. Sergey Stanishev's brother, Georgi Stanishev, is the Bulgarian partner of
Foster and Partners, the developer behind the controversial project. In March 2009,
New Europe published the heading 'Barroso backs Stanishev'. Stanishev received the full support of European Commissions President Jose Manuel Barroso concerning the improvement of the cooperation with the European Commission and the enhancement of the administrative capacity. Prime Minister Stanishev was on a working visit to Brussels and met with President Barroso, as well as European Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs and Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Joaquin Almunia. Later in June 2009, Sergey Stanishev supported Jose Manuel Barroso for a second term as EU Commission President.
President of the Party of European Socialists (PES) Stanishev took over the PES leadership as Interim President in late 2011 after his predecessor,
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, stepped down from his post. In September 2012, at the 9th PES Congress, Sergey Stanishev was elected (with 91.3% of the votes) as President of PES for a full two-year term. He was the only candidate for the post. On 11 June 2015, he was re-elected after his rival,
Enrique Barón Crespo, withdrew from the race. According to him, his victory margin was 69.5% to 16.5%, with 13.3% abstaining. At the PES congress in Lisbon in 2018 Stanishev was re-elected as president of the PES.
Later career At the
2014 European parliament election, Stanishev was elected as Member of the
European Parliament for Bulgaria, placing second on the BSP party list. In early July 2014, Stanishev announced that he would step down as leader of the BSP. On 27 July, at the BSP's 48th congress, incumbent
chairperson of the National Assembly Mihail Mikov was elected to succeed Stanishev as party chair. In the
2019 European Parliament election Stanishev earned a seat as a Member of the
European Parliament for the 2019–2024 term. At the summit at which EU's top jobs were discussed Stanishev was proposed as a candidate for President of the
European Parliament. However, he withdrew his nomination.
Boyko Borisov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria, said Stanishev's nomination was an "honor and pride for Bulgaria". According to Euractiv, Stanishev is "at war" with the leader of the Bulgarian socialists
Korneliya Ninova. ==Controversies==