Brussels, 15/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - In the Dutch daily, Trouw, of Thursday, the Commissioner responsible for competition supports Angela Merkel, CDU-CSU candidate to the post of Federal Chancellor of Germany. When asked about a possible election victory of Angela Merkel during the elections on 18 September, Neelie Kroes said: ”One of the largest countries of Europe would then have a woman leader (…). Europe is ready for that (…), this change at the highest level in Germany would have consequences on life in society and throughout Europe”. Urged by reporters to clarify her reasons for adopting such a stance, the spokesperson for Neelie Kroes explained that Kroes' remarks had been made in her “capacity as a woman and as a politician and not as a European Commissioner”, adding “when she speaks of something that does not concern competition, she does not express herself as a Commissioner”. The code of behaviour simply stipulates that Commissioners must not act in a way that weakens the Commission or their portfolios, the spokesperson explained. Neelie Kroes is known for her commitment in favour of women's rights in politics and business, the spokesperson stressed, noting that Ms Kroes, who is Liberal, and Ms Merkel, who is a Christian Democrat, do not belong to the same political family.
The co-president of the Group of Greens/EFA at the European Parliament, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, says on the other hand that this is “insufferable and scandalous interference” in a national electoral campaign. “One can naturally understand that there are affinities between Ms Neelie Kroes, who is a former businesswoman whose past has shades of grey in it, and a party that resorts to secret funds”, the German Green states scathingly in a press release, adding: “If she wants to do partisan politics, then she should go back to the Netherlands”.