SPORT and Youth Minister Vassil "Luciano" Ivanov is a freshman when it comes to politics but boasts of his business and common sense and sound judgment.
His name appeared on the political stage three years ago; earlier he was best known because of his chain of cake and confectionery outlets.
Luciano, as everybody calls him at home and overseas, is a precedent in the history of Bulgarian politics. He made the transition from being a successful businessperson, through to a Cabinet appointment, and then a failed attempt to be elected mayor of the capital city, the consequence of which was that he remained in his Cabinet post.
Controversy about his appointment as chairperson of the State Agency of Youth and Sport three years ago, which was later transformed into a Ministry of Youth and Sport, started when it turned out that he had no high school certificate.
"I had no time to graduate high school," Luciano told journalists in the Bulgarian-language media, always making a point of adding in a confident voice that this fact had never bothered him.
"For me high schooling happens on the street. These are the people I talk to and work with," Luciano was quoted as saying. He routinely describes himself as a workaholic.
However, according to the then effective State Administration Act, a higher education diploma was one of the prerequisites for entering state administration. The law was altered, with what became known as the "Luciano amendment".
He now has postgraduate qualifications in the area of Public Administration and Organisation and Management of Tourism.
Luciano's 'politics proshtupulnik' (a reference to a ritual in which parents lay out a collection of various objects associated with various professions, and the one the child chooses is said to augur of its future career) was held following a lavish pre-election campaign of the returning former king Simeon Saxe-Coburg, who later became Prime Minister. Luciano says he never expected anything in return.
"When I made up my mind to assist Saxe-Coburg's pre-election campaign I never expected or insisted on gaining something in return," he told Dnevnik daily.
Born on June 8, 1964 in Sofia, Luciano has learnt it all the hard way, with tedious work and perseverance. He discovered his entrepreneurial spirit in Prague while working as an assistant to his grandfather.
He exercised his entrepreneurship first through selling fruit and vegetables - helping his gardener grandfather, then driving a taxi and running a small fast food restaurant.
He says 1986 was his luckiest year. It was then that he married, had a son and realised that a family could not be supported on just a monthly driver's salary.
"The system back then did not offer many opportunities to have commercial initiative," Luciano said.
His nickname originated from the strong passion he has for Italy, its world-renow-ned tenor Lu-ciano Pavarotti. All the 17 restaurants, pizzas and cafeterias he and his wife Stefka own, are today called Luciano.
The first food restaurant Luciano opened in 1991 after he won a bid for a place in Mladost and since then he has not stopped opening a new place or two every year. This explains of the often referred to "bonanza". He confesses it was his best stint of experience in life to go through all the arts of administration, licence regimes and taxes.
A son of a car mechanic and a weaver, Luciano had no interest in getting into politics, though his credo slightly changed and took up a different course under the influence of Saxe-Coburg's return.
"This engaged me to become committed to his cause," Luciano told journalists during the 2003 municipal election campaign.
"As a business man, I always did my best to stay away from politics," Luciano told a news conference after he was appointed as a Cabinet minister.
He told Dnevnik that his only political opponent was his wife, but she had "completely supported me in my decision to join in the mayoral elections in Sofia. I highly appreciate her opinion". Her place of importance is evident. He owns not so much as a flat in Sofia. She owns four tracts of real estate.
On the rare occasions when Luciano is not enjoy Italian music, he turns to the 70s and 80s pop icons Deep Purple. The music tastes, added to by the 2000 cult films he has in stock, are an indication of how he likes to spend his leisure time. But he hardly shares free moments because he sometimes works 12 to 15 hours a day.
"I am not a magician but as a minister I think that the work I have done has not been done by anyone in the last 15 years."
During last year's municipal election, he said he recalled the building he lived in on Hadji Dimitar street in the centre of town till he was seven. "Now it is desolate and dilapidated," he said. Sofia needed a business man to change it and not a politician, Luciano would tell voters.
Luciano has always got positive marks for his ministerial experience and his name is associated with the completion of the reconstructed stadium Vassil Levski and the Belmeken sports facilities.
His love and involvement for sport is not something recent because he was a member of the managing staff of Levski PFC (1994-99), president of Levski boxing club (1996 - 2001), president of the Bulgarian Boxing Federation (1997 - 2001) and a member of the Bureau of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee till now.
His love for Bulgarian sport has never let him lose hope that the Athens Olympics could mean Bulgaria bringing home at least 17 medals. Ebullient expectations ended with 12 medals and Bulgaria reaching 33rd place. The four-year Olympic cycle for preparation of Bulgaria cost the humble sum of seven million leva.
Runner Ivet Lalova was internationally called the 'Olympics Gazelle' reaching fourth and fifth place in the 100 and 200 metre races.
Praising the Bulgarian team, Luciano emphasised that the number of medals is not important as their quality.
His name appeared on the political stage three years ago; earlier he was best known because of his chain of cake and confectionery outlets.
Luciano, as everybody calls him at home and overseas, is a precedent in the history of Bulgarian politics. He made the transition from being a successful businessperson, through to a Cabinet appointment, and then a failed attempt to be elected mayor of the capital city, the consequence of which was that he remained in his Cabinet post.
Controversy about his appointment as chairperson of the State Agency of Youth and Sport three years ago, which was later transformed into a Ministry of Youth and Sport, started when it turned out that he had no high school certificate.
"I had no time to graduate high school," Luciano told journalists in the Bulgarian-language media, always making a point of adding in a confident voice that this fact had never bothered him.
"For me high schooling happens on the street. These are the people I talk to and work with," Luciano was quoted as saying. He routinely describes himself as a workaholic.
However, according to the then effective State Administration Act, a higher education diploma was one of the prerequisites for entering state administration. The law was altered, with what became known as the "Luciano amendment".
He now has postgraduate qualifications in the area of Public Administration and Organisation and Management of Tourism.
Luciano's 'politics proshtupulnik' (a reference to a ritual in which parents lay out a collection of various objects associated with various professions, and the one the child chooses is said to augur of its future career) was held following a lavish pre-election campaign of the returning former king Simeon Saxe-Coburg, who later became Prime Minister. Luciano says he never expected anything in return.
"When I made up my mind to assist Saxe-Coburg's pre-election campaign I never expected or insisted on gaining something in return," he told Dnevnik daily.
Born on June 8, 1964 in Sofia, Luciano has learnt it all the hard way, with tedious work and perseverance. He discovered his entrepreneurial spirit in Prague while working as an assistant to his grandfather.
He exercised his entrepreneurship first through selling fruit and vegetables - helping his gardener grandfather, then driving a taxi and running a small fast food restaurant.
He says 1986 was his luckiest year. It was then that he married, had a son and realised that a family could not be supported on just a monthly driver's salary.
"The system back then did not offer many opportunities to have commercial initiative," Luciano said.
His nickname originated from the strong passion he has for Italy, its world-renow-ned tenor Lu-ciano Pavarotti. All the 17 restaurants, pizzas and cafeterias he and his wife Stefka own, are today called Luciano.
The first food restaurant Luciano opened in 1991 after he won a bid for a place in Mladost and since then he has not stopped opening a new place or two every year. This explains of the often referred to "bonanza". He confesses it was his best stint of experience in life to go through all the arts of administration, licence regimes and taxes.
A son of a car mechanic and a weaver, Luciano had no interest in getting into politics, though his credo slightly changed and took up a different course under the influence of Saxe-Coburg's return.
"This engaged me to become committed to his cause," Luciano told journalists during the 2003 municipal election campaign.
"As a business man, I always did my best to stay away from politics," Luciano told a news conference after he was appointed as a Cabinet minister.
He told Dnevnik that his only political opponent was his wife, but she had "completely supported me in my decision to join in the mayoral elections in Sofia. I highly appreciate her opinion". Her place of importance is evident. He owns not so much as a flat in Sofia. She owns four tracts of real estate.
On the rare occasions when Luciano is not enjoy Italian music, he turns to the 70s and 80s pop icons Deep Purple. The music tastes, added to by the 2000 cult films he has in stock, are an indication of how he likes to spend his leisure time. But he hardly shares free moments because he sometimes works 12 to 15 hours a day.
"I am not a magician but as a minister I think that the work I have done has not been done by anyone in the last 15 years."
During last year's municipal election, he said he recalled the building he lived in on Hadji Dimitar street in the centre of town till he was seven. "Now it is desolate and dilapidated," he said. Sofia needed a business man to change it and not a politician, Luciano would tell voters.
Luciano has always got positive marks for his ministerial experience and his name is associated with the completion of the reconstructed stadium Vassil Levski and the Belmeken sports facilities.
His love and involvement for sport is not something recent because he was a member of the managing staff of Levski PFC (1994-99), president of Levski boxing club (1996 - 2001), president of the Bulgarian Boxing Federation (1997 - 2001) and a member of the Bureau of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee till now.
His love for Bulgarian sport has never let him lose hope that the Athens Olympics could mean Bulgaria bringing home at least 17 medals. Ebullient expectations ended with 12 medals and Bulgaria reaching 33rd place. The four-year Olympic cycle for preparation of Bulgaria cost the humble sum of seven million leva.
Runner Ivet Lalova was internationally called the 'Olympics Gazelle' reaching fourth and fifth place in the 100 and 200 metre races.
Praising the Bulgarian team, Luciano emphasised that the number of medals is not important as their quality.
