Associated Press Worldstream
October 26, 2006 Thursday 4:03 PM GMT

Kuneva accepted as Bulgaria’s first EU commissioner; Romania
nominates liberal senator

By PAUL AMES, Associated Press Writer

The European Commission welcomed Bulgaria’s Meglena Kuneva as her
country’s first member of the EU’s executive body Thursday, clearing
her to assume the post in charge of consumer affairs on Jan. 1 if she
is approved by the European Parliament.

Bulgaria and Romania are due to join the European Union on New Year’s
Day, bringing EU membership to 27 nations.

The European Commission said in a statement that Kuneva, Bulgaria’s
European affairs minister, was accepted for the post, but
consultations were continuing on Romania’s nomination, Liberal party
Sen. Varujan Vosganian.

All EU members have the right to send an official to serve on the
European Commission, the bloc’s executive body. The European
Parliament is to vote on the appointments in December.

Kuneva is expected to assume the new post of consumer affairs
commissioner, taking responsibility for an area that previously fell
within the portfolio of EU Public Health Commissioner Markos
Kyprianou.

"I believe Mrs. Kuneva has all the political, personal and technical
competencies for this very important job," said European Commission
President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Kuneva, 49, a lawyer and a former university teacher and journalist,
has led Bulgaria’s entry talks with the European Commission since
2001.

"Meglena Kuneva will be a worthy and efficient representative of
Bulgaria," Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev told reporters
in Sofia.

However, Vosganian’s nomination has raised doubts from the Socialist
faction in the European Parliament.

"The Bulgarian candidate is well known for her European attitudes and
political involvement, whereas the Romanian is unknown," said a
statement from Hannes Swoboda and Jan Marinus Wiersma, vice
presidents of the Socialist group.

"What is known is that he has been very much on the right wing of
politics and on the payroll of big economic tycoons," they added. "It
is clear that we will have to explore his European profile but also
his acceptance of European standards and European values."

Vosganian, 48, chair of the Senate’s budget and finance committee, is
known for supporting free-market policies. He also is a fervent
backer of his country’s flat tax of 16 percent, which Romania
introduced in 2005 to replace a progressive taxation scheme ranging
from 18 to 40 percent.

A mathematician and economist, Vosganian also is a writer and poet.
An ethnic Armenian, he heads the National Union of (Ethnic) Armenians
in Romania.

The European Parliament will grill both candidates at hearings next
month and is due to vote on their appointments in December.

Although the vote by the EU assembly is not legally binding, the
commission has made clear that a negative vote would likely result in
Barroso asking them to resign.