EU Commissioner Kroes won't return to The Hague

European Commissioner Neelie Kroes has no plans to return to Dutch politics, should her party be in a position to head a government after the 9 June general elections. Speculation that Kroes could become prime minister were rife as her right-wing liberal VVD party rose in the opinion polls.

"I am a European and there is a lot of work to do," the EU Commissioner for the Digital Agenda said at an IT conference in Amsterdam on Tuesday. "That's why there's no need for me to come back to the Netherlands."

The current VVD leader, Mark Rutte, has consistently said he is his party's candidate for prime minister, but always added that the situation -- a minority government -- might require him to stay in parliament and look for a prime minister from outside. His party currently holds a lead in election polling and some of those polls have suggested that Kroes is the most popular choice for prime minister out of all VVD members.

Kroes also enjoys a wide popularity outside her own party, both for her uncompromising approach to defending consumer rights against corporate monopolies, as well as for her feminism. In 2010 she was awarded theAletta Jacobs Prize by Groningen University, for "her role as an advocate of women's emancipation and as an example for other women".