Commissioner Decries Lack of Female Presidential Candidates

Swedish EU Commissioner Margot Wallström has criticized the fact that no women are in the race to become new president of the European Commission. Since early this year, the 25 EU leaders have held many bilateral and secret talks to find the person to replace Romano Prodi as head of the Commission in November. Among those mentioned as possible candidates, not one has been a female. "It is really a pity that not one single woman is mentioned," Wallström said. "The appointment must be improved next time." According to Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, the Swede would like to see a change in the whole process leading to the appointment of the new head of the Commission. There is no transparency in the process and no general discussion on the qualifications of the candidates has taken place, she pointed out. "Most of us find ourselves completely removed [from the process]. We do not even know who the candidates are," she said. (EUobserver.com)