Moscovici says won't push French interests as EU Commissioner

(FRANKFURT) - Pierre Moscovici, the French candidate for the EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, said in a newspaper interview on Friday that he will not push national or party political interests if appointed.

"Of course a commissioner also has a nationality and I'm French," Moscovici told the business daily Handelsblatt.

"A commissioner also belongs to a political party and I'm a Social Democrat. But I won't be an ambassador, either of a country or a political party," he said.

"I'll be a member of the European Commission and will represent European interests. And that means, you respect common rules and stick to them."

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has expressed reservations about the appointment of Moscovici to the post of EU commissioner in view of France's difficulties in meeting Europe's budget rules.

The weekly magazine Der Spiegel had reported in its latest edition that Chancellor Angela Merkel had come round to the appointment of Moscovici.

The EU Commission's new president Jean-Claude Juncker is expected to name the key appointments by September 10.