The body had 20 members and oversaw the introduction of the euro. It was cut short when the Commission became the first to resign en masse, owing to allegations of corruption. Some members continued under Manuel Marín until the Prodi Commission was appointed.
Being seen as the "second choice" weakened Santer's position, with the European Parliament approving him only by a narrow majority.[1] He himself admitted that he "was not the first choice – but to become Commission president was not my first choice either."[2] He did, however, flex his powers over the nominations for the other Commissioners. The President gained this power under the Maastricht Treaty that came into force the previous year. On 18 January 1995, he got his Commission approved by Parliament by 416 votes to 103 (a larger majority than expected) and they were appointed by the council on 23 January.[1]
Notably it contributed to the development of the euro and issued a series of green papers based on Commissioner Yves-Thibault de Silguy's work. The commission also developed the euro currency symbol. The euro was established on 1999-01-01. The commission also continued Delors's social agenda, pushed for more powers in that field including tackling unemployment and began proposals for the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.[1]
Santer, desiring a quotable slogan for his administration, stated his Commissions aim would be "to do less, but do it better" (a slogan adopted and adapted by many since). Although just a sound bite, it struck a chord for some thinking the Community needed a rest after the new treaties and the euro, even if the nature of the Community itself requires movements and new projects to keep it busy.[2] However, during 1998 the commission began to lose authority due to management criticisms from the Parliament.[1]
Budget controversy
The community's budget for each year needs to be discharged by the Parliament following its report by the European Court of Auditors. It had only refused to do so once previously, in 1984.[4] Towards the end of 1998 the Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control initially refused to discharge the community's budget for 1996 over what it saw as the arrogance of the Commission in its refusal to answer questions relating to financial mismanagement.[5]Paul van Buitenen, a whistle-blower working in the commission, had sent the Parliament a report alleging widespread fraud and cover ups, stating: "I found strong indications that . . . auditors have been hindered in their investigations and that officials received instructions to obstruct the audit examinations . . . The commission is a closed culture and they want to keep it that way, and my objective is to open it up, to create more transparency and to put power where it belongs – and that's in the democratically-elected European Parliament." In response, the Commission suspended him on half pay for releasing details of an inquiry.[6][7]
However it eventually supported the discharge 14 to 13 on 11 December, recommending that the plenary support the discharge. It was taken to plenary for debate four days later however the assigned rapporteur publicly went against the committee's official position and urged the plenary to reject the discharge motion. President Santer announced that the commission would treat the vote of discharge as one of confidence. In a vote on 17 December 1998, the Parliament denied the discharge.[8]
In response, on the basis it was tantamount to a vote of no confidence, the President of the intra-national Party of European Socialists (PES), Pauline Green, announced she would put forward a motion of censure. However the PES would vote against its own motion, as there is no method for a motion of confidence.[9] During this period, the Parliament took on an increased government-opposition dynamic, with the PES as a party supporting the commission and the intra-national European People's Party (EPP) renouncing its support and acting as a de facto opposition party to the executive.[8] This was in part because the allegations centred on Édith Cresson and Manuel Marín, both from the Socialist party (PES). It was seen by some that it was an attempt by the EPP to discredit the PES ahead of the 1999 elections. This led to hesitation from the PES leadership, who were the largest group in Parliament, to support the allegations.[5] Motions tabled by the two groups outlined the differing stances the EPP favouring individual responsibility (only censuring those who the main allegations were against) and the PES favouring an emphasis on collective responsibility (so EPP members such as the President, as well as PES members, would be forced to resign). The PES resolution also proposed establishing a committee of independent experts to investigate the allegations.[8]
Resignation
Following negotiations, including national governments pressuring their MEPs,[5] the Parliament met to vote on the resolutions on 14 January 1999. It accepted the PES resolution and turned down a censure motion 293 to 232. A Committee of Independent Experts was set up with its members appointed by the political leaders in Parliament and the commission.[8] A number of high-profile figures[10] were appointed and President Santer agreed to "respond" to its findings.[5] The report was produced on 15 March 1999 and was presented to the Commission and Parliament. It largely cleared most members, aside from Cresson, but concluded that there was growing reluctance of the Commissioners to acknowledge responsibility and that "It was becoming increasingly difficult to find anyone who had the slightest sense of responsibility."[8]
The entire Santer Commission resigned in response to the report
In response to the report, the PES withdrew their support from the Commission[8] and joined the other groups stating that unless the Commission resigned of its own accord, it would be forced to do so.[11] So, on the night of 15 March, Santer announced the mass resignation of his Commission.[8] The morning following the resignation, against the recommendation of his advisors, Santer attacked the conclusions of Committee.[11] The report was seen to be even in criticising not only PES members but also the workings of the Commission itself. It also exposed the situation that neither Parliament, nor the President, could force the resignation of individual Commissioners as they could only be 'recalled' by national governments. The French government refused to recall Cresson,[5] who refused to resign of her own accord, which sparked the need for a mass resignation. Commissioner Mario Monti criticised this, stating that "This Commission has collectively resigned, I believe, not because of collective responsibility but because certain members of it preferred not to take their own individual responsibilities."[11] Édith Cresson went before the European Court of Justice and, in July 2006, was found guilty but was not stripped of her pension.[12] Cresson today is largely held accountable for the fall of Santer (who went on to serve as an MEP and never fully recovered), and the rest of his Commission.[2]
Repercussions
The immediate effect was that the politically weakened Commission was unable to react to the beginning of the Kosovo War and the close of the Agenda 2000 negotiations. The crisis had compounded the already reduced powers of the Commission in favour of the Parliament's legislative power, the council's foreign policy role and the ECB's financial role. However the change with Parliament was the most profound, the previous permanent cooperation between the two bodies came to an end with the shift in power.[13]
It was hoped by the leaders in Parliament that such a political challenge would generate useful publicity ahead of the elections, with previous polls producing a low turn out with a perception of the body being powerless. In this respect the affair did generate extensive media attention with the Parliament now seeming 'dramatic'. The committee report also was written in an unusually accessible manner, filled with soundbites. Further more it also drew greater attention from the council to a Parliament willing to exercise its powers. Hence when the Council came in to agree on a new president, it was clear that the candidate had to be acceptable to parliament.[5] The crisis also displayed the increasing party competition within the Parliament, leading to the development of a Parliamentary system between the executive and legislative branches. Indeed, it can be seen that the government-opposition dynamic of the two main parties in Parliament aggravated the development of the crisis and contributed to the downfall of the commission.[8]
The Prodi Commission, which succeeded Marín's caretaker administration, announced a zero-tolerance approach to fraud. Following pressure from Parliament, the Commission quickly established OLAF, an anti-fraud office which replaced the Unit for the Co-ordination of Fraud Protection (UCLAF) established in 1988[14] and seen as having failed in its duty.[1] OLAF was established with more powers and to be more independent, especially in terms of investigation where they are formally autonomous from the commission.[14] There were a few members who survived the Santer Commission to continue under Prodi: Franz Fischler, Erkki Liikanen, Mario Monti and Neil Kinnock. The latter was appointed to undertake institutional reform.[1]
The reappointment of some of these members showed that individual Commissioners still maintained their own reputations despite the massive loss of face of the institution as a whole, while Cresson would have never been able to have been reappointed. The Commission itself suffered from a loss of trust and reputation, only compounded by the post-Delors mood. Prodi had to deal with increased euroscepticism which helped bring down the Santer Commission. Since the end of the Delors era, pro-integrationism had given way with greater concern about the commission's powers. By just 2000 the Council curbed the commission's powers once more when they believed Prodi overstepped his remit.[13]
College
The Commission college had 20 members (two for the largest five member states, one each for the remainder) and included Commissioners from new member states Sweden, Finland and Austria. Had Norway not rejected EU membership in 1995, their Commissioner would have been Thorvald Stoltenberg who was proposed as Commissioner for Fisheries;[15]
President Secretariat-General, Legal Service, Security Office, Forward Studies Unit, Inspectorate General, Joint Interpreting and Conference Service (SCIC), Spokesman's Service, Monetary Matters (with de Silguy), CFSP (with van den Broek) and Institutional Questions for the 1996 IGC (with Oreja)
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the three legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union, it adopts European legislation, following a proposal by the European Commission. The Parliament is composed of 720 members (MEPs), after the June 2024 European elections, from a previous 705 MEPs. It represents the second-largest democratic electorate in the world, with an electorate of around 375 million eligible voters in 2024.
The European Commission (EC) is the primary executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission headed by a President. It includes an administrative body of about 32,000 European civil servants. The commission is divided into departments known as Directorates-General (DGs) that can be likened to departments or ministries each headed by a Director-General who is responsible to a Commissioner.
The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president of the commission leads a cabinet of commissioners, referred to as the college. The president is empowered to allocate portfolios among, reshuffle, or dismiss commissioners as necessary. The college directs the commission's civil service, sets the policy agenda and determines the legislative proposals it produces. The commission is the only body that can propose or draft bills to become EU laws.
The European Union is a geo-political entity, created in 1993, covering a large portion of the European continent. It is founded upon numerous treaties and has undergone expansions and secessions that have taken it from six member states to 27, a majority of the states in Europe.
Édith Cresson is a French politician of the Socialist Party. She served as Prime Minister of France from 1991 to 1992, the first woman to do so and only woman until Élisabeth Borne's appointment in 2022. Her political career ended in scandal as a result of corruption charges dating from her tenure as European Commissioner for Research, Science and Technology.
A European commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio. The commission is led by the president of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent of government ministers.
The Barroso Commission was the European Commission in office from 22 November 2004 until 31 October 2014. Its president was José Durão Barroso, who presided over 27 other commissioners. On 16 September 2009 Barroso was re-elected by the European Parliament for a further five years and his Commission was approved to take office on 9 February 2010.
The Prodi Commission was the European Commission in office between 1999 and 2004. The administration was led by former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.
Dame Pauline Green, is a former Labour and Co-operative Member of the European Parliament and former Leader of the Parliamentary Group of the Party of European Socialists (PES). As leader of the Parliamentary Group of the PES, she had a central role in the controversy surrounding the failure to discharge the European Commission (EC)'s 1996 budget, bringing the first motion of censure against the commission but voting against it. She then changed her position following corruption allegations raised by EC official Paul van Buitenen to call for Jacques Santer to react promptly or be sacked. Green lost the leadership of the PES in 1999, which was attributed in part to her handling of the incident.
Valdis Dombrovskis is a Latvian politician serving as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People since 2019 and European Commissioner for Trade since 2020. He previously served as European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union from 2016 to 2020 and Prime Minister of Latvia from 2009 to 2014.
The Delors Commission was the administration of Jacques Delors, the eighth President of the European Commission. Delors presided over the European Commission for three terms. The first term lasted from 1985 to 1988, the second until 1992 and the final one until 1994, making Delors the longest serving president, and his Commission is also seen as the most successful at advancing European integration. It was the only Commission to serve three times, and Delors served five two-year terms. The third Commission was the first Commission of the European Union, the Maastricht Treaty having come into force in 1993.
Manuel Marín González was a Spanish politician, former President of the Congress of Deputies of Spain. He was a long-time member of the European Commission, and acting president during the Santer Commission following the resignation of Jacques Santer. He is considered the father of the Erasmus Programme.
The Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) is a committee of the European Parliament. with 30 permanent members. It can be seen as the European Union's internal "political watchdog", seeking to identify undesirable developments within EU institutions and other bodies and then to elaborate constructive suggestions for improvement.
The Internal Audit Service or IAS is a Directorate-General (DG) of the European Commission that was established in 2001 to provide an increased accountability of the Commission.
Events from the year 1999 in the European Union.
The history of the European Union between 1993 and 2004 was the period between its creation and the 2004 enlargement. The European Union was created at the dawn of the post–Cold War era and saw a series of successive treaties laying the ground for the euro, foreign policy and future enlargement. Three new member states joined the previous twelve in this period and the European Economic Area extended the reach of the EU's markets to three more.
The history of the European Union from 2004 to the present is the current timeline of the European Union. It is a period of significant upheaval and reform following the 2004 enlargement of the European Union. The EU has taken on ten new members, eight of which were initially much poorer than the EU average, and took in a further two in 2007 with many more on the way. It created the euro a few years before and had to expand this, and the Schengen Area to its new members. However this was overshadowed by the late-2000s recession and damaging disputes over the European Constitution and its successor, the Treaty of Lisbon. Throughout this period, the European People's Party has been the largest group in the European Parliament and provides every President of the European Commission.
The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialist Group on 29 June 1953, which makes it the second oldest political group in the European Parliament after the European People's Party Group. It adopted its present-day name on 23 June 2009. Centre-left in orientation, the group mostly comprises social-democratic parties and is affiliated with the Progressive Alliance and Socialist International.
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