The leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party and former prime minister Sergey Stanishev was elected president of the Party of European Socialists (PES) on Saturday.
Stanishev was elected on 91.3% of the votes, PES said in a statement issued after its 9th congress.
"Our major goal is to give back hope to the European citizens, to restore the confidence that the European project is the path for a better future," Stanishev said, as quoted in the statement.
"On economic policy, we have pushed for movement on Financial Transaction Tax, on regulation of credit rating agencies, on a genuine banking union and on Eurobonds. On social policy, we are calling for a social pact, so that people can believe that Europe is about them, and on democracy we have set in stone our plans for a democratic common candidate," he added.
Stanishev took over the PES leadership as interim president in late 2011.