Neelie Kroes has been using her staggeringly high popularity in Dutch opinion polls to help push her liberal VVD party to electoral victory, even though her own election as the country's prime minister remains unlikely, according to observers in the Dutch capital.
The Dutch Labour/Christian Democrat coalition government collapsed in February after the Labour Party refused to back a proposal to extend the deployment of troops in Afghanistan.
The liberal VVD party has made a remarkable comeback and leads recent polls with a majority of 34 seats. Second in line is the popular socialist party, PvdA, with 32 seats, leaving the previous coalition leader, the Christian Democrat CDA, with a mere 26 seats.
In addition, rumours abound that a stint as leader of her country would be an easy way out of her current role as the EU's commissioner for the 'Digital Agenda', a portfolio that critics argue Kroes does not have the expertise for.
Last week, the Dutch commissioner made it crystal clear that she did not intend to return to politics in The Hague, in spite of opinion polls showing that she was the country's favourite candidate.
Kroes herself had triggered curiosity in Brussels two weeks ago by not ruling out the possibility of becoming the next prime minister.
Asked whether she wanted the job or not, Kroes used a Dutch proverb, 'you should not skin the bear before you shoot it', which appeared to leave her options open.
Then on Sunday 23 May, the VVD's current leader, Mark Rutte, announced on national Dutch television that Kroes was a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming elections, though cynics argue that he was just namedropping as a ploy for more votes.
Rutte's strategy, according to reports in the Dutch press, would be to lead the VVD if they clinched a majority in a new coalition, but to delegate the leadership to Kroes if they could only muster a minority.
Poll watchers in The Hague insist that current forecasts would just about secure the VVD a majority stake in a new government, making Kroes' appointment "a small and technical possibility".
Imposing multimillion fines against IT giant Microsoft during her stint as EU competition commissioner saw Kroes' star in her native country soar, especially among young women.
This year she was awarded the Aletta Jacobs Prize by Groningen University for "her role as an advocate of women's emancipation and as an example for other women".
