The European Parliament approved the Romanian nominee for the position of European Commissioner for Multilingualism with a large majority on Tuesday. Leonard Orban passed the EP vote with 595 votes in favourt, 16 against and 29 abstentions.
Bulgarian nominee Meglena Kuneva was also approved to take over the seat of European Commissioner for consumer protection today, three weeks before the two countries join the European Union.
The heads of the political groups in the EP have expressed their appreciation of Orban and said they would support him in his new position despite many have argued that the multilingualism was too small an issue to have its own portfolio in the Commission.
Orban will officially become Commissioner for Multilingualism in January, when he will be sworn in at a ceremony at the European Court of Justice.
He told Romanian news agency NewsIn that once the EP vote over he would begin forming his cabinet, due to be completed by the end of this week.
