Monitor: European comment on the allegations of corruption in the EU Commission

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JACQUES SANTER complains: "We are the victim of our own transparency". That is not true. If the European Commission president becomes a victim, then it is because he is not in control of his political business. Brussels now needs to be controlled. The 20 commissioners do not constitute a government, but they have long been more than an administration. What is lacking is a clear distribution of power; a Constitution for Europe. This will not be attained in the short term. The mess caused by the commissioners does not warrant the resignation of all of them, but the most incompetent commissioners must go.

Die Welt, Germany

EDITH CRESSON [France's commissioner] is accused of hiring a personal friend as an adviser, and Manuel Marin [Spain's commissioner] is criticised for a lack of control over community funds that he manages. These do not seem sufficient motives to unleash a crisis of such proportions. The real reasons are different - the negotiation of the community budget has poisoned things. Germans and Dutch, instigators of the confrontation, are taking advantage of some minor irregularities to justify a drastic cut in European social funds, to which Santer is an obstacle. The Commission will be damaged by a dispute inopportune for the EU and incomprehensible to the public.

El Mundo, Spain

THE GOVERNMENT needs a Commission that can support its Agenda 2000 plans with courage and competence. The government must support Santer and his team. But it must also show consideration for the European Parliament and their anger with Brussels, and it also has to think ahead to the European elections in June.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany

DELEGATES FIND themselves in a delicate situation, torn between the terror of censure and the unease of coming across as trying to keep a lid on a Commission that is not even going to try to make amends; the scandals of which are, even now, still on everyone's lips.

Le Soir, Belgium