PARIS (Reuters) - European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, a former leader of a political party now in opposition in her native Denmark, said on Wednesday that her country’s government did not support naming her for another mandate at the European Union’s executive body.
Vestager, 50, has a high profile in Brussels after attacking tax dodging allegations and monopoly powers among U.S. multinationals including Google and Apple as the EU competition commissioner.
She is perceived by some as a potential successor to Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission.
“My native member state doesn’t seem too enthusiastic about giving me another mandate,” Vestager said at a news conference in Paris. “And that would be an understatement.”
Vestager is a former leader of the Danish Social Liberal Party, which opposes the country’s ruling conservatives.
“The tradition in my country is that it is the biggest party in government that names the commissioner,” Vestager told reporters. “Since my party is not in the government, at least you would have to break the tradition.”
The European Commission, the EU’s executive, is make up of one commissioner from each member state.
Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Brian Love and Peter Graff
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