Released on March 15, 1999, this report has created the worst political crisis in the European Union's 42-year history. The 140-page report by independent experts looked into charges of widespread fraud, nepotism, and corruption in the European Commission, the executive body of the EU, and found numerous cases where "commissioners or the Commission as a whole bear responsibility for instances of fraud, irregularities or mismanagement." In response, the President of the Commission, who is also the chief executive of the EU, and nineteen other senior officials abruptly resigned on March 16. This would be roughly equivalent to the entire US Cabinet resigning. Users can read the full text of the report, in HTML or .pdf format, at the European Parliament site.
Comments