Leonard Orban (born June 28, 1961) is a Romanian independent technocrat who served as the Commissioner for Multilingualism in the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union (EU). He was responsible for the EU language policy and was the first Romanian Commissioner and the first member of the Commission whose portfolio is exclusively multilingualism. His term of office began on January 1, 2007 and ended on February 9, 2010. With a background in engineering and economics, Orban has taken up various posts working for the accession of Romania to the European Union, most prominently as Deputy and later as Chief Negotiator for his country at the time of final negotiations with the European Union.
Steering the multilingualism language policy of the EU, Orban focused on promoting foreign language learning through EU programmes such as the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007–2013. In addition, his remit also included the effective functioning of the EU's extensive interpretation, translation and publication services in the 23 official languages. To support the remit of his portfolio, Orban oversaw a staff of 3,400 in total (approximately 15 per cent of the Brussels executive's workforce) and approximately 1 per cent of the EU budget.
Though unaffiliated to any political party, Orban adheres to liberalism. He supports Romania's closer European integration and a strong European Union, and were in favour of the relaunch of the frozen Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe without modifications to the original text.
As of 20 September 2011, he is the Romanian Minister of European Affairs, a new ministry in the Emil Boc Cabinet.
Read more about Leonard Orban: Early Years and Personal Life, Working For European Affairs, Portfolio As European Commissioner, Appointment Procedure, Views On Multilingualism, Views On EU-Romania Relations and The European Integration