A Case Study of the Commission `s resignation March 15 1999

Abstract

The Commission of the European Union resigned on March 15 1999 after a long process of turmoil. My working thesis was that the Commission `s resignation was the result of a series of actions, which was manifested in three processes: 1. The process of Unité de Coordination de la Lutte Antifrude (UCLAF). 2. The process of European Community Humanitarian Organisation (ECHO). 3. A third process with three links: 3:A: A refusal to give discharge to the 1996 budget, 3:B: Motion of cencures and 3:C: The Committee of Independent Experts. My aim was clear: TO explain the Commission `s resignation as a result of a process manifested in process 1, 2 and 3A, B and C, by the use of Neo Institutional- and Liberal Intergovernmental lenses. I discovered that this was basically a Neo Institutional story. The EU had a past that had implications later on. Rules, norms and people`s institutional identity matters. Instititions matter.