EU commissioner starts blogging

Margot Wallström, the first-ever European Union Commissioner for Communications, appointed last August, will start a blog today.

A news announcement late yesterday in the EU Observer said:

From Friday (14 January) onwards, the Swedish Commissioner's thoughts will be aired for all to see. The online journal is to be updated two to three times a week and will contain some personal thoughts but don't expect any revealing political secrets or any dirt dished on other Commissioners.

[...] Anyone following the Commissioner's blog can write in their thoughts, which will then be posted on the site. The blog is supposed to reach people that 'Brussels' does not normally reach. A Commission official said "it's a novel and effective way of communicating to people in normal language".

Wallström's blog is called my diary and is already online with a pre-launch post yesterday with commentary about the tsunami disaster in South Asia, plus assorted comments about some of her fellow commissioners. Refreshing!

Will Commissioner Wallström really blog or will it be ghosted by one of the many press officials/bureaucrats in Brussels?

Benefit-of-the-doubt time. From EU Observer's announcement:

[...] Although several politicians have blogs, often they are written by harassed press officers. Mrs Wallström, however, is to write all of her own.

Commissioner Wallström certainly sounds like she means business. From her concise bio page:

We politicians are accountable to 450 million Europeans and you expect us to work together, to be effective, to communicate with you and to give you a voice. We can never be allowed to forget that. That is what gives me my political motivation.

The English-language blog doesn't have many of the usual attributes you expect to see, such as RSS, trackbacks or open commenting. Nevertheless, it's a very bold and welcome step.

Margot Wallström, Vice-President of the European Commission | my diary