France takes multilingual position

The French appear to have won out in their quest to take charge of the commissioner for multilingualism, Leonard Orban. Frenchwoman Patricia Bugnot will head his private office. She is currently a director in the Commission's secretariat-general, in charge of better regulation, programming and impact assessment. The number two in Orban's office will be Jochen Richter, a German who works in the conciliations and co-decision unit of the Parliament's secretariat. In other words, he cuts deals with the Council of Ministers and the Commission. Viorel Serbanescu is likely to make the predictable journey from Romania's mission to the EU to Orban's office. Kristian Hedberg, who is currently in the private office of Olli Rehn, the commissioner for enlargement, where he has handled the dossiers of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia, is set to move over to the private office of the new Bulgarian commissioner Meglena Kuneva.