The name of Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov emerged after a report by Axios revealed that Washington proposed him as a representative for the Peace Board in Gaza to work alongside a Palestinian technocratic government, after Tony Blair was dropped from consideration. 

Mladenov, born in 1972 in Sofia, is a seasoned politician and diplomat who has held a series of high-profile positions in his country and the United Nations. He served as Bulgaria's Minister of Defense from 2009 to 2010, then as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2013, and was a member of the European Parliament from 2007 to 2009.

Nikolay Mladenov (Sources)

In 2013, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed him as the UN representative in Iraq and head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq. Mladenov is widely seen as a leading figure in UN diplomacy in the Middle East, having served as UN Special Coordinator for the Peace Process from 2015 to 2020, where he helped contain Israel-Hamas tensions and sustain efforts toward a political resolution amid repeated escalations.

He is currently a lecturer at the Washington Institute as part of the "Koret Project on Arab-Israeli relations."

Mladenov is viewed as a candidate who brings together security and diplomatic expertise, with deep knowledge of the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—factors that help explain why Washington is advancing his name at this sensitive moment for Gaza’s future and its political and security arrangements.