"It's professionalism that matters for an European Commissioner, not the country of origin"

The hearings Romania’s future representative in the European Commissioner had to face in the European Parliament were difficult despite allegations that his portfolio - Multilingualism - was rather “light” or “second hand”, Leonard Orban told Romanian website EurActiv.ro minutes after his nomination received the EP approval today.

The EP vote sealed Orban’s entrance in the EC as Commissioner for Multilingualism starting January 1, 2007, when Romania will join the EU.

He told EurActiv.ro that professionalism is what counts most for a commissioner, and the capacity to meet the job description.

And he dismissed claims shared by some MEPs according to which multilingualism was insignificant to have an entire portfolio in the EC. He said the issue of multilingualism proved its sensitiveness during his EP hearing, where he was not tackled with as a representative of Romania, but as one who has to answer the elected representatives of European citizens.

Leonard Orban said he has yet to decided whether to join a political party and that he would make such a decision after spending a period as an independent observer to the works of a political group. He did not mention what group that would be.

Euractiv.ro, Dec 12, 2006