Santer Commission - Budget Controversy

Budget Controversy

The community's budget for each year needs to be discharged by the Parliament following its report by the European Court of Auditors. It had only done so previously in 1984. Towards the end of 1998 the Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control initially refused to discharge the community's budget for 1996 over what it saw as the arrogance of the Commission in its refusal to answer questions relating to financial mismanagement. Paul van Buitenen, a whistle-blower working in the Commission, had sent the Parliament a report alleging that widespread fraud and cover ups, stating: "I found strong indications that . . . auditors have been hindered in their investigations and that officials received instructions to obstruct the audit examinations . . . The commission is a closed culture and they want to keep it that way, and my objective is to open it up, to create more transparency and to put power where it belongs - and that's in the democratically-elected European Parliament." In response, the Commission suspended him on half pay for releasing details of an inquiry.

However it eventually supported the discharge 14 to 13 on 11 December, recommending that the plenary support the discharge. It was taken to plenary for debate four days later however the assigned rapporteur publicly went against the Committee's official position and urged the plenary to reject the discharge motion. President Santer announced that the Commission would treat the vote of discharge as one of confidence. In a vote on 1998-12-17, the Parliament denied the discharge.

In response, on the basis it was tantamount to a vote of no confidence, the President of PES, Pauline Green, announced she would put forward a motion of censure. However PES would vote against its own motion, as there is no method for a motion of confidence. During this period, the Parliament took on an increase government-opposition dynamic, with PES as a party supporting the Commission and the EPP renouncing its support and acting as a de facto opposition party to the executive. This is in part because the allegations centred on Édith Cresson and Manuel Marín, both from the Socialist party (PES). It was seen by some that it was an attempt by the People's party (EPP) to discredit PES ahead of the 1999 elections. This led to hesitation from the PES leadership, who were the largest group in Parliament, to support the allegations. Motions tabled by the two groups outlined the differing stances the EPP favouring individual responsibility (just those whom the main allegations are against) and PES favouring an emphasis on collective responsibility (so EPP members such as the President, as well as PES members, would be forced to resign). The PES resolution also proposed establishing a committee of independent experts to investigate the allegations.