education was vital to the aims set out in the Lisbon Strategy. He told MEPs that he would like all children in the EU to be taught at least two foreign languages at school, and also stressed his support for UNESCO. From 1 January 2007, in the enlarged Barroso Commission after the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union, responsibility for multilingualism was transferred to Commissioner for Multilingualism, Romanian Leonard Orban. Figeľ announced his resignation from the commission on 21 September 2009, following his election as the leader of Christian Democratic Movement in Slovakia. He was replaced by Maroš Šefčovič on 1 October 2009. Figeľ received a PhD title in the field of social work at St Elizabeth's School of Medicine and Social Work in Bratislava, a university-level private academic institution, in 2007. The majority of the thesis was copied from a publication he edited in 2003 with Slovak diplomat Miroslav Adamiš, "Slovakia on the Road to the European Union – Chapters and Contexts", in which they described the country's EU accession process. The rector of St Elizabeth's School, Vladimír Krčméry, said that they took into consideration Figeľ's position and had granted Figeľ a PhD mainly due to the fact that he was at the time serving as a European commissioner. On 24 August 2012 Science Insider reported that he "is facing an official inquiry into the legitimacy of his PhD, awarded while he was in office." Slovak Minister of Transports From 2010 to 2012 Figeľ was a Slovak Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport, Construction and Regional Development. Figeľ was chairman of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) from 19 September 2009 until 15 March 2016, when he resigned as party leader following unsuccessful general elections when KDH took just 4.96 percent of the vote and, as a result, Christian Democrats did not win any seats in the parliament for the first time since they were established in 1990 and paid the price for not passing the baton to a new generation. Furthermore, Figeľ created a controversy with an electoral campaign focusing on anti immigration and nationalist rhetoric with a slogan about "white Slovakia". In May 2019, he ran for European Parliament elections but, receiving only 23792 preferential votes, he was not elected. In autumn 2010, Slovak media raised controversy regarding Figeľ's generous EU perks making him a politician with best revenues in Slovakia. Furthermore, Slovak daily