On 30 November 1954, Jean Monnet, dismayed at the failure of the proposed European Defence Community (EDC), explains to the Members of the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) why he will not be asking the governments of the Six to renew his term of office as President of the ECSC High Authority.

Table showing the motions of censure tabled in the European Parliament against the management of the Commission.

Extract from the first report by the Committee of Independent Experts on the allegations of fraud, mismanagement and nepotism in the European Commission.

Statement by President Jacques Santer the day after the resignation of the Members of the Commission.

Commission statement following the resignation of its Members.

European Parliament Resolution of 23 March 1999 on the resignation of the Commission and the appointment of a new Commission.

On 14 July 1999, Jacques Santer, outgoing President of the European Commission, gives an account of the achievements of his team since 1995.

Analysis of current practice and proposals for tackling mismanagement, irregularities and fraud.

In this interview, Jacques Santer, former President of the European Commission, recalls the reasons and circumstances which led him to submit, on 15 March 1999, the resignation en bloc of the Commission.

In this interview excerpt, Gérard Deprez, Member of the European Parliament from 1984 to 1999 (European People’s Party (EPP)), from 1999 to 2004 (Citizens’ Movement for Change (MCC)), from 2004 to 2009 and since 2014 (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)), describes the circumstances surrounding the resignation en bloc of the Santer Commission in 1999. He also mentions the role played by Édith Cresson, a Member of the Santer Commission with responsibility for Science, Research and Development, in this affair.

With the term of the European Commission under President Romano Prodi due to come to an end on 1 November 2004, several Commissioners decide to stand down well ahead of this deadline to take up national offices. On 3 April 2004, the French daily newspaper Le Monde reports on the various interpretations of this trend.

As the term of office of the European Commission presided by Romano Prodi comes to an end on 1 November 2004, several Commissioners are leaving their posts early in order to take up new national positions of responsibility. In his editorial dated 6 April 2004, Ferdinando Riccardi, Editor-in-Chief of the Europe Daily Bulletin, takes a positive view of the situation.