(MENAFN- AFP) Former European competition commissioner Neelie Kroes, under fire Thursday over an undeclared link to a Bahamas-based firm while in office, rose from a distinguished career in Dutch politics to become one of Europe's most powerful women.
But her close ties with business raised eyebrows in the European Parliament even after "Steely Neelie", as she was dubbed, earned a reputation in Brussels for taking on global companies and their dominance in the markets.
Kroes, 75, started her political career in 1971 as an MP for the Dutch Liberal and business-friendly People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).
The party is today headed by Prime Minister Mark Rutte and governs the Netherlands with its junior Labour Party coalition partner.
Between 1982-89 she served two terms as transport, public works and communications minister in the Dutch cabinet and helped put the state-run post and telecoms company on the road to privatisation.
It was in 2004 however, when Kroes joined European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to serve as competition commissioner that her star began its meteoric rise.
Even then, the immaculately-dressed Kroes's close ties to business caused rumblings.
But she brushed aside criticism, vowing not to return to business after her first term. It was a pledge that she was later to break.
During her time in Brussels, Kroes earned a reputation as a tough no-nonsense enforcer after taking on Microsoft, E.ON, GDF Suez and other corporate giants in her monopolies-busting role and slapping them with hefty fines.
- Conflict of interest -
In 2010 she was inaugurated for a second term in Brussels -- this time as the Commission's vice president responsible for Europe's digital agenda, a passion which she pursued with vigour.
A champion of cutting mobile roaming costs across the continent and supporting internet start-ups, her dream was to have every EU citizen hooked up online by 2020.
While serving as commissioner, she vigorously defended Uber in 2014 after a Brussels court decided to ban the ridesharing company.
She maintained the decision was not about "protecting or helping passengers -- it's about protecting a taxi cartel."
In May this year, Kroes joined Uber's policy board, which among others include a former Peruvian prime minister and a Saudi princess.
She also joined US tech company Salesforce's board of directors in April and was appointed special adviser to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch last year, making her return to the private sector.
Kroes denies any wrongdoing after revelations by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists this week showed she had been a director of Mint Holdings Ltd in the Bahamas between 2000 and 2009 -- a conflict of interest while she was in office.
She said she never knew she had remained listed as a director until her removal in 2009, saying it was a mistake made in "good faith."
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