Commissioners from Bulgaria and Romania join EC Officials

Starting January 1 2007 Bulgaria’s and Romania’s European commissioners joined other EC officials by starting their term in office.

Bulgarian Meglena Kouneva will be responsible for consumer protection, while Romanian commissioner Leonard Orban will deal with multilingualism.

The nominations of both Kouneva and Orban received European Parliament approval on December 12 2006, Focus news agency reported.

Also starting January 1, Bulgarian and Romanian representatives to the EP started work.

On November 23 2006 the Romanian parliament approved 35 EP members. Bulgaria’s National Assembly approved 18 representatives.

The Bulgarian EP officials will have a term in office lasting until the end of the term of the current EP in 2009, Focus reported.

By December 31 2007 Bulgaria and Romania need to carry out members of the European Parliament elections. The officials will join the EP for its 2009 to 2014 term. Bulgaria will have 17 MEPs, while the number of Romanians is 33.

Source: sofiaecho.com