Wallström should decide who she works for
The Local is not responsible for the content of blog comments.
The news that European Commissioner Margot Wallström is to have a senior role in helping the Social Democrats reform their foreign policy has raised a few eyebrows.
Wallström, as practically the only senior Social Democrat who is personally popular with the electorate, is being brought in not so much for her political wisdom, one suspects, but as a poster girl for the party’s campaign to get back into power.
Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has already criticized the fact that the Vice President of the European Commission would have a key official role in a Swedish political party. He has a good point.
Commissioners are usually (failed or exiled) politicians in their home countries, and it is normal for a commissioner to maintain links with his or her own party. But commissioners are also supposed to act in the interests of the whole of the EU.
The feeble EU code of conduct does little to prevent commissioners using the influence derived from their unelected position to favour national political parties. The code of conduct merely says:’Commissioners may be active members of political parties or trade unions, provided that this does not compromise their availability for service in the Commission’.
But the fact that something does not break an EU code of conduct (itself cobbled together to represent the lowest common denominator of that to which EU member states were willing to agree) does not mean it is appropriate.
Indeed, it is surely entirely wrong for an unelected civil servant with massive public resources at her disposal to take an active daily role in party politics. Wallström’s appointment runs until 2009, and there’s nothing any elected politician in Sweden can do to remove her. She, however, should show some integrity and decide who she works for – the people of Europe or her cronies in the Social Democrats.
