Commissioner Margot Wallström has announced that she is stopping writing her weblog that she started in 2004. She was the first Commissioner to use the online diary as a way of communicating with the public. Since then many others, including MEP's, Commissioners and others in the European Union political and policy scene have followed her. In her post announcing the end of her blog she said "I really enjoyed it but it was more time consuming than I had expected.  It sounds easy to sit down and write a piece per week but finding the time to do this when you have to do a lot of travelling and many many meetings to prepare for and attend is not as easy as it sounds." It is also not easy to write an interesting weblog either, but the Commissioner has managed to do that, by mixing the professional with the personal and lifting the curtain a little on what goes on behind the scenes. She says that "I have managed to write 265 blog posts since the beginning, covering everything from the EU to dancing, music, books, Chinese mining, jam and wars." As Nosemonkey, a journalist and fellow blogger said "Not sure if the experiment entirely worked, but the blog did make you seem like one of the more human Commissioners - and anything that can be done to break down the perception of the Commission existing as some remote, isolated elite can only be a good thing.I hope the new lot carry on the blogs - they’re not always the most exciting reads, but their mere existence is a major step towards allowing the people to see inside the Brussels machine."
 
On the future of blogging on Europe, Wallström notes that "Undoubtedly overcoming the language barrier.  What I can see of the EU blogosphere is largely in English and French.  Finding out what is going on in German, Spanish, Italian, Polish and the other 17 official languages is for many people an insurmountable hurdle.  We all depend on others to translate for us and bring good stories, ideas and arguments to everyone’s attention... I think that, like it or not, English is becoming the common language through which Europeans understand each other. This has nothing to do with British or American linguistic imperialism and everything to do with practicality."
 
Her approach has also been appreciated by people who don't agree with her. On her final post, Max Kaye writes, "While we (still) hold opposite opinions on virtually every subject under the sun, in the 4 or five years that I have been following your blog, I’ve noted that you have always engaged your adversaries with courtesy and a sense of fair play - even under conditions of harsh criticism and sometimes unfair provocation. I may disagree with you on political and social issues, but I do respect you - and especially thank you for engaging with individuals as well as with groups and the ‘masses’."
 
In typical style, her final post lists what she won't be missing; "breakfast meetings! People should be spared from having to meet me (or worse: listen to me) too early in the morning, arrogant cynics of whatever nationality and late night sessions about comitology in the European Parliament…"
 
She says that she is returning to Sweden to consider her next move, which may be as Special Representative to the United Nations, working on the issue of sexualised violence against women in war and conflict. Also on her agenda is writing a book and spending more time with her family. However, her harshest critics should take note that she's also intending to get a hunting license. Finally, she pays tribute to her Press Spokesman, Joe Hennon, the guitar-playing Irish Pagan, who has been loyal and inspirational as well as being open and fair with all.
 
So Margot, this isn't goodbye but au revoir, because we haven't heard the last of you. Till next time.