Critics quick to ignore local failings

Some of the peripheral reaction has been amusing in its own right. First we had the French advising how the crisis showed the need for reform. This from the country which nominated Ms Cresson in the first place, the country which has just concluded a trial of three senior ministers on serious charges and the country where scandal became the watchword in the preceding administration.

Then, of course, the europhobes in Britain went to town. Many eurosceptic newspapers reacted smugly, saying the news confirmed their fears about Brussels' bureaucratic structure.

The feeling that the fraud referred to in the report is minuscule by comparison to that in many of the EU's member-states was ignored . . . as was the record of the vaunted birthplace of democracy on political scandal. Remember it was Britain, among others, who refused to fund Europe's institutions adequately to carry out the work they demanded it do.

At least the Irish Government, thrashing around as it is in a sea of tribunals, was somewhat more cautious about throwing stones around the glasshouse.