When Meglena Kouneva returned to Sofia after the official announcement of her appointment as European Commissioner-designate for Consumer Protection, she described her new portfolio as “extremely important”.

Going by the job description, Kouneva will indeed have a lot on her plate.

In the official view of the European Commission, “consumer policy is a core component of the EC strategy objective of improving the quality of life of all EU citizens”.

Assuming that the European Parliament agrees to Kouneva’s appointment, her job from the date of Bulgaria’s EU accession - January 1 2007 - will include developing legislation and taking other action to promote “the interests, health and safety of consumers in the (EU) internal market, to ensure the proper integration of consumer concerns in all EU policies and to complement the consumer policy conducted by member states”.

According to the EC, the commission “actively supports consumer organisations” and wants to enhance the role of consumer representatives in decision-making.

At international level, the EC wants to ensure that acceding and candidate countries have the same high levels of consumer protection and safety as in the member states, and says that it promotes consumer policy and high consumer safety standards in international forums and in relations with third countries.

Speaking on October 26, Kouneva said “a lot of diverse issues” were involved in her future portfolio, including the common market, civil society, and free movement of goods.

She said that her background of experience as Bulgaria’s chief negotiator on the country’s EU accession would serve her well.

Kouneva said that she would do her utmost to prepare for the job. Her first steps were to include meetings with EU Commissioner Markos Kyprianou and EC officials on the political framework of the portfolio of the Commissioner for Consumer Protection.

At the same time, she said, she would not abandon the work she was doing as European Integration Minister to ensure that Bulgaria met its commitments to the EU.

Including Kouneva, a total of 28 Bulgarians are to serve on various EU-related institutions. Speaking after the Cabinet approved the nominations, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said that political criteria had not come into play.

The nominations, Stanishev said, had been based on “professional attitude, personal qualities, authority before and in the European institutions, and the specific criteria that the candidates have to satisfy”.

Alexander Arabadjiev has been nominated by Bulgaria’s Cabinet to be a European Court of Justice (ECJ) judge. Arabadjiev, who has a master’s in law from Sofia University, is a former constitutional judge, and has served on the European Commission on Human Rights in Strasbourg. Currently, he is an MP from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).

Teodor Chipev, also a Sofia University law graduate and an associate professor at Plovdiv University and at the New Bulgarian University, will work in the Court of First Instance of the European Communities. He was justice minister from October 1994 to January 1995 in prime minister Reneta Indjova’s caretaker cabinet.

Nadezhda Sandolova will be Bulgaria’s representative in the EU Court of Auditors. Sandolova is one of the founders of the Bulgarian National Audit Office, where she worked till 2005. Presently, she is a member of the Audit Council of the Council of Europe Development Bank.

The Cabinet also nominated Bulgaria’s representatives on the European Economic and Social Committee. They are Bozhidar Danev, chairperson of the Bulgarian Industrial Association; Lyubomir Hadjiiski, deputy chairperson of the Economic Commission at the Bulgarian Union of Private Entrepreneurs Vuzrazhdane; Adriana Tosheva, executive director of the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria; Milena Angelova, executive director of the Industrial Capital Association in Bulgaria; Zhelyazko Hristov and Plamen Dimitrov, respectively chairperson and deputy chairperson of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria KNSB; Dimiter Manolov, vice president of Podkrepa Labour Confederation and Veselin Mitov, head of International Affairs at Podkrepa Labour Confederation; Professor Nansen Behar, member of the managing board of the Union of Economic Initiative; representatives of the National Council of and for People with Disabilities - Plamen Zahariev, of the Women’s Democratic Union - Donka Sokolova, and of the Bulgarian Farmers Association - Lyudmila Todorova.

Bulgaria will be represented in the Committee of the Regions by Targovishte mayor Krasimir Mirev, Shoumen mayor Veselin Zlatev, Dobrich mayor Detelina Nikolova, Kurdjali mayor Hasan Azis, Pernik mayor Antoaneta Georgieva, Gabrovo mayor Bogomil Belchev, the chairperson of Sofia Municipal Council Vladimir Kisiov, Bourgas mayor Yoan Kostadinov, Sliven mayor Yordan Lechkov, Tvurditsa mayor Katia Doicheva, Varna mayor Kiril Yordanov, and Kubrat mayor Remzi Yuseinov. A number of mayors and municipal office-bearers from various municipalities have been chosen as their substitutes.