Wallström under fire over Royal blog

European commission vice-president Margot Wallström has come under fire from MEPs for endorsing the candidature of Ségolène Royal.

Wallström on Monday wrote in her blog, which is a part of her official website, that she was cheering for Royal.

“I cheered for the achievements of a presidential candidate belonging to my political family,” she wrote.

“But, maybe above of all, I was happy to see that a woman will participate in the second round of the presidential election.”

“Until now in France, a woman had never made it to the second round… I render my homage to Ségolène Royal and I wish her good luck,” she added, this time writing in French.

Joseph Daul, chair of the EPP-ED group in the European parliament, fumed at the move, calling it “totally inadmissible”.

"I have sent a letter to commission president José Manuel Barroso expressing my strongest protest against the political use of the official web site of one of the EU's institutions, obliged by the (EU founding) treaty to remain neutral,” Daul said in a statement.

The president of the EPP party Wilfried Martens added that Wallström was breaching the commission’s code of conduct and “should be more focused on improving her work at the commission”, he said in a statement.

“After working at the commission for nearly eight years, maybe the time has come for her to go home,” Martens said.

But the head of the socialist group in the European parliament Martin Schulz played down Wallström's blog comments.

“There is a gigantic difference between a commissioner expressing a personal opinion in a blog from a commissioner engaging actively and physically in an election campaign,” he told this website.

Schulz was referring to a 2005 televised statement by Barroso on behalf of his party in Portuguese elections and a public endorsement by competition commissioner Neelie Kroes to Angela Merkel’s campaign in Germany in the same year. 

“At the time we questioned their involvement in elections campaigns and we heard from the commission that commissioners are also political persons and we accepted that,” his spokesman told this website.

A commission official confirmed that what Wallström wrote in her blog was her personal opinion and not the European commission’s.

“The commission as a body hopes to see a good debate in France,” the official added.

Commission officials shied away from commenting on whether commissioners should openly use EU platforms to voice their personal opinions, however.  

Meanwhile, François Bayrou, who came third on Sunday’s French elections with seven million votes, has refused to back either Nicolas Sarkozy or Ségolène Royal for the presidency.

French voters are set to decide between Royal and Sarkozy on 6 May.

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