Brussels, 11/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - The former French Prime Minister, Edith Cresson, who is accused of various acts of embezzlement during her time as Commissioner between 1995 and 1995, will be heard by all the members of the European Commission on 30 June, to decide how to proceed with the administrative procedure in place against her. A few weeks later, the Commission will decide whether sufficient evidence exists to bring an appeal before the Court of Justice to have some or all of Ms Cresson's pension stopped. Ms Cresson has already tried to prove her innocence in writing. As the Commission did not accept her arguments, she asked to be able to defend herself orally.
Alongside the Commission's administrative inquiry, the Belgian justice system, which found Ms Cresson guilty in March 2003 for "written forgeries, the use of forgeries and illegal collection of interest", is envisaging a non-suit, due to a lack of charges against. But these are still only rumours, and the inquiry continues.
The Commission believes that Ms Cresson violated the rules of her mandate. She is accused of having given her former dentist, René Berthelot, who has since died, a cushy job at the Commission in 1996 and 1997, and of having favoured a French firm under the European training programme, Leonardo, which was under her jurisdiction. The case underlined the Jacques Santer Commission, which was finally forced to resign collectively in March 1999.