Brussels, 25/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - Bulgaria and Romania, who will become members of the European Union on 1 January 2007, have appointed their candidates for the post of European Commissioner: - the Bulgarian government has chosen the current Minister for European Affairs, Meglena Kuneva, who is also the negotiator-in-chief for accession negotiations with the EU; - the Romanian government has appointed Varujan Vosganian, an economist and member of the Romanian Senate. The appointments were made in consultation with the President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, who must now decide which portfolios will be allocated to the new Commissioners. A decision on this subject will be taken "in the very near future", a Commission spokesperson declared on Wednesday.
The Commission also announced this week that the former Polish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Poland's former negotiator-in-chief for its accession negotiations with the EU, Jan Truszczynski, has been appointed deputy Director General of the Directorate General "Enlargement" of the European Commission. The former Polish ambassador to the EU will be working on the implementation of the information and communication strategy on enlargement, amongst other things. He will take up his post on 1 January 2007. (hb)