Minister Tony Blair travelled to Sofia praising Nadezhda Mihaylova commitment with the words: "You, Nadezhda, have become the symbol of the wider Europe – of a whole Europe – a Europe of solidarity." As an MP in the 39th National Assembly (2001–2005), she was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Committee on National Security and Defence. She was elected chairman of the United Democratic Forces in 2002. After the disappointing local elections of 2003, a rift broke between her and former PM Ivan Kostov in the party. In 2004 29 UDF delegates (led by Kostov) left to form a new party, Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria. After the disappointing 2005 parliamentary election, with her party finishing fifth, she was succeeded by former president Petar Stoyanov as chairman of the party. On 30 November 2005, Mihaylova established the "Right Alternative" (Bulgarian: Дясна алтернатива) faction within the party. As an MP in the 40th National Assembly, she was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and the Committee on European Integration (2005–2009). Nadezhda was also vice-President of the National Assembly of Bulgaria from 2008–2009. In November 2012, she quit the right-wing party after three senior MPs were expelled. Member of the European Parliament In the 2009 European parliamentary election Neynsky was elected as SDS candidate. Since then she has been a member of the European People's Party (Bulgarian: Hristyandemokrati). As an MEP she sat on the Committee on Budgets and was co Resident on Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). She was also a member of the Delegation to the EU-Russia and a member of the Delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. She served as a Deputy on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, a Deputy on the Subcommittee on Security and Defence and a substitute member of the Delegation for relations with Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union. In May 2012, she founded, together with the Austrian MEP Paul Rübig and the Danish MEP Bendt Bendtsen, a new organization called SME Europe. This pro-business organization within the European People's Party, aims at improving the situation of small and medium-sized enterprises all across Europe. Currently, she holds the position of President. She was vice-President of the Union of SMEs to the European People's Party from 2007 to 2011 and vice-President of the European People's Party. Other fields of politics When talking in 2016 with a newspaper about