Trouble at home for Fischer Boel

SEVERAL DANISH political parties have questioned whether a possible conflict of interest stands in the way of Mariann Fischer Boel taking up the post of EU agriculture Commissioner.

The reason is that Ms Fischer Boel‘s family owns a 330-hectare estate which receives around 450,000 Danish Crowns a year (£40,000) in agricultural subsidies.

The question posed by some Danish political parties is if Ms Fischer Boel legally can be considered impartial if she is going to be in charge of the very agricultural policy under which her family‘s estate receives support.

The EU Commission‘s president, José Manuel Barroso, has said that he has “full confidence” in Ms Fischer Boel‘s competence as agriculture Commissioner.

Yet the EU has stated that its lawyers will investigate the claims about a conflict of interest.

The Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has rejected the claims.

According to the newspaper Berlingske Tidende, Ms Fischer Boel has said that she does not feel that her ownership of the Ostergaard estate constitutes a conflict of interest.

She has also pointed out that the estate is not run by herself but by her husband.

Fischer Boel was Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries in Denmark from November 2001 until August 2 this year.

Apparently, no claims about any conflict of interest arose during this period.