Luxembourg, 27/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Court of Justice has refused former European Commissioner Edith Cresson access to the full minutes of the meeting leading to the Commission's decision on 19 July 2004 to take her to court for alleged cronyism (see EUROPE 8751).
As part of the appeal she has lodged against the Commission, Edith Cresson asked the Court of Justice to grant access to four documents - the full minutes of the meeting; a note from the legal services (document SEC (2004) 1004), a communication from the President of the European Commission at the time, Jacques Santer, and the Vice-President Neil Kinnock (document SEC (2004) 1005) and a document following the briefing of Heads of Cabinet on 19 July 2004 (document SEC (2004) 1005/02).
The Court believes that in view of the specific nature of the case and the information communicated to it, it is not appropriate to take into consideration the Commission's reasons for believing it had reason to take Edith Cresson to court. The Court of Justice believes that reading the Commission's application gave Edith Cresson knowledge of elements of the dossier against her and she is therefore fully capable of defending herself without the requested documents especially because, as the Court points out, it will be ruling on the ex-Commissioner's fate based solely on the complaints in the dossier. Failing to provide the requested documents does not damage Edith Cresson's right to defend herself, concluded the Court (meeting as the full court). This same full court of 15 judges will be hearing the parties' pleas at a hearing on 9 November 2005: lawyers and representatives for Mrs Cresson, the European Commission and the French government (which has been authorised to intervene in support of the former French Commissioner).