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Ekaterina Zaharieva is European commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation. As such, she is responsible for policies including expanding the European Innovation Council and the European Research Council, proposing a European Research Area Act to guarantee the free movement of researchers, scientific knowledge and technology, implementing and overseeing funding from EU research and innovation programmes, such as Horizon Europe, and proposing a European Research Area Act to guarantee the free movement of researchers, scientific knowledge and technology. Before joining the Commission, she served as Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria, as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Justice, and Minister of Regional Development. She worked as a lawyer until 2003, when she became a legal advisor to the Bulgarian government and entered politics in 2009.