Germany reacts to EU Commission's resignation

The dramatic overnight departure of the European Union's executive body plunged the bloc into its deepest crisis in decades, just days ahead of a crucial summit to overhaul EU finances in preparation for its expansion into Eastern Europe.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, whose country holds the EU's current presidency, flew to Brussels for talks with outgoing Commission President Jacques Santer on how to mini the damage.

"We have a very competent parliament, a council and presidency," Schroeder said. "Europe is not without leadership, and that will become clear."

Santer said he and the 19 other commissioners will stay on in a caretaker capacity until their successors are appointed, but the resignations and revelations of high-level malpractice left the EU in disarray.

Still, the resignations were hailed by governments around Europe, which hoped they would lead to more responsible EU management.

"What we have got to do now is use this event, the resignation of the whole Commission, to drive through root and branch reform," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.

Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok said the resignations presented the EU with a chance to "begin with a clean slate," while Catherine Colonna, spokesperson for French President Jacques Chirac, said Chirac felt EU leaders should "learn a lesson" from the crisis.

The mass departure was unprecedented in the 42-year history of the EU - roughly equivalent to the entire U.S. Cabinet resigning.

"There's nothing in the (EU) Treaty about a resignation like this," said Commission spokesperson Martine Reicherts. "We've got to look into the legality of it."

The 15 EU nations were already struggling to heal splits over how to reform its $92.6 billion budget to ensure spending does not spiral out of control when Poland, Hungry and up to 10 other candidates join over the next decade.

Hungary and Poland said they remained optimistic that the sudden resignations wouldn't affect their hopes of entering the EU.

Schroeder's efforts to restore order in Europe, however, come as his own government is reeling from the resignation last week of German Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine.

In Brussels, the caretaker commissioners have to deal with the EU's day-to-day business, including a trade battle with the United States over banana imports and talking up the euro, the EU's single currency that has recently slumped against the dollar.

"It is frankly bad to have to work with a Commission which has stepped down," said Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

Aznar said Santer's team should stay on until its term ends Dec. 31, calling that a "lesser evil." Others called for an interim executive to be put in charge until the end of the year.

Several European statesmen have been mentioned as possible temporary replacements for Santer, including former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, former Prime Minister Romano Prodi of Italy and retired Portuguese president Mario Soares.

Jose Maria Gil-Robles, president of the European Parliament - which ordered the fraud investigation - urged EU governments to nominate new commissioners soon so a temporary executive could be in place by early May.

Britain, Belgium and some other EU governments said they would reappoint commissioners untainted by personal criticism in the mismanagement report.

"There may be more continuity than was apparent last night," said Ben Duffy, spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the EU. "Some of the commissioners key to these discussions aren't going anywhere."

One who seems certain not to be around is former French Prime Minister Edith Cresson, the research commissioner who was the prime target of accusations of cronyism and mismanagement in the report drawn up by five independent experts.

"Commissioner Cresson failed to act in response to known serious and continuing irregularities over several years," the report said.

While accepting most of the specific criticisms, Santer reacted bitterly to the report's overall conclusions, claiming they created an unfair impression of generalized mismanagement.

"This picture is distorted," he said. "I consider the tone of the report's conclusions to be wholly unjustified."

The investigation found no evidence any commissioner personally engaged in fraudulent activities, but said they failed to crack down on wrongdoing by their subordinates.

03-17-99