Editing Jacques Santer (section)

=== Presidency of the European Commission ===
[[File:Jean-Claude Juncker & Jacques Santer - 1997.jpg|thumb|Santer meets with Luxembourgish Prime Minister [[Jean-Claude Juncker]] in 5 February 1997]]
Santer became the [[President of the European Commission#List of presidents|ninth President of the European Commission]] in 1995 as a compromise choice between the United Kingdom and a [[Franco-German]] alliance, after the Franco-German nominee [[Jean-Luc Dehaene]] was vetoed by [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British prime minister]] [[John Major]].<ref name="econ61198">{{Citation | title = Europe's presidential race: the form | url = http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_TPQSST&source=login_payBarrier | newspaper=The Economist | date = 11 June 1998 | access-date =16 September 2009 }}</ref> Santer's selection was barely ratified by a [[European Parliament]] upset with the process for which Commission presidents are selected.<ref name=McCormick2004>{{Citation  | title = The European Union: Politics and Policies  | year = 2004  | author=McCormick, John }}</ref>

In the same year, 1995, Santer became the first recipient of the [[Vision for Europe Award]].

Allegations of corruption concerning individual EU commissioners led to an investigation into administrative failings (incompetence and malpractice) by a so-called [[Santer Commission#Resignation|Committee of Independent Experts]]. Despite clearing most commissioners, the report stated that they had not found a single person showing the slightest sense of responsibility. Because the implicated commissioners refused to resign and the President of the European Commission did not have the power to dismiss individual commissioners, Santer and his entire commission resigned on 15 March 1999, the very day of the report's publication. As the Commission would only have lasted for half a year from then, he was replaced by Vice-President [[Manuel Marín]] on an interim basis.