The European Commission resigned en masse early this morning in an unprecedented response to a scathing report by a committee of inquiry which accuses them of "loss of control" of the EU's administration.
In a brief statement issued at 1.00 a.m., the President of the Commission, Mr Jacques Santer, announced that the Commission was "assuming its responsibilities in line with the commitments it had made in respect of the report". The president, who had promised to accept the outcome of the report, and the 19 other members of the Commission will individually present their resignations to the German presidency this morning.
They are then likely to be asked to continue as a caretaker administration until a new Commission president and Commission is appointed. That could take several months.
The Commission will also meet again at 9.00 a.m. to draft a fuller statement on the report and are expected to insist that the criticisms in the report, established jointly with the parliament, are "unjust".
Sources in the Commission say that although there may be some disruption to the Agenda 2000 negotiations which are supposed to be concluded next week at the Berlin summit, the summit will certainly go ahead and may indeed have a rather fuller agenda, including the possible nomination of a new Commission president. That decision was not originally due until June.
Two front-runner candidates are currently considered serious contenders - the former Italian Prime Minister, Mr Romano Prodi, and the Spanish general secretary of NATO and former foreign minister, Mr Javier Solana.
The committee was established by the parliament following an attempt to sack the Commission for maladministration and nepotism in January. It also accuses commissioners of a wilful refusal to accept responsibility. "It is becoming difficult," the report says, "to find anyone who has even the slightest sense of responsibility."
The Commission last night met in emergency session to consider its response.
The report focused much of its sharpest criticism on the French Research Commissioner, Ms Edith Cresson. The report, which also condemns a number of other commissioners for administrative failures and nepotism, did not mention the Irish Commissioner, Mr Flynn.
Earlier last night the leader of the Liberal Group, Mr Pat Cox (Munster), said he could not see how the Commission could survive such devastating findings and called on the commissioners to save some respect and dignity by resigning before they were forced out.
The leader of the largest group in the Parliament, the Socialists, Ms Pauline Green, also threw the group's support behind demands for resignations of the full Commission.
