Barroso assigns multilingualism to new commissioner

Leonard Orban, the new Romanian European commissioner- designate, has been given the multilinguism portfolio by Commission President José Manuel Barroso, a completely new office which currently falls under the wing of the commissioner responsible for administration.

A Commission spokesman denied that the new portfolio is some kind of second-tier assignment saying all EU commissioners are "important" and there is no portfolio which is less prestigious than another.

However, the announcement of a new commissioner responsible for languages raised some questions in Brussels, particularly on whether there is real need for a Commission of 27 members.

Presenting Mr Orban, who, together with the new Bulgarian commissioner, still needs to be approved by the European Parliament, Mr Barroso said he was sure Mr Orban will successfully carry his new responsibilities given his personnel, political and professional experience, qualities and commitment.

The current commissioner responsible for languages, Jan Figel, also hailed his new colleague.

He said more than 200 European and non-European languages are spoken in the EU which will have, as from January 1, 23 official languages with the arrival of Romanian, Bulgarian and Irish.

Mr Orban, who is Romania's Deputy European Affairs Minister, served as chief negotiator of accession talks between Romania and the EU. He was not Bucharest's first preference. Romania had last week nominated Liberal Senator Varujan Vosganian for the Commission's post but his name did not go down well in Brussels and he withdrew his nomination.

According to the current EU rules, every member state joining the EU has the right to nominate a commissioner to sit on the EU's executive.

Romania is set to join the EU together with Bulgaria next January. All commissioners will take a new oath of office on January 4.