Tony Blair has called for "root-and-branch" reform of the European Commission, its mandate and method of operation, and for an entirely new framework for fighting fraud and financial irregularity in the European Union. And he has insisted that the next Commission presidency, like all top jobs throughout Europe's institutions, should in future be decided on merit and merit alone.
In a trenchant statement to MPs on the "sad catalogue of negligence and mismanagement" which brought about the collapse of the Commission, the British Prime Minister said it was right that all 20 Commissioners had resigned en masse and that the President, Mr Jacques Santer, should leave his post as soon as reasonably and practically possible.
Mr Blair told the Commons: "It is a damning report. It catalogues in key areas a culture of complacency, lack of accountability, and in some cases nepotism, that is unacceptable. It has revealed systematic failings in the Commission which have been tolerated for far too long. It was absolutely right that the Commission resigned en masse.
"The President of the Commission should leave as soon as reasonably and practically possible and a new president should take his place.
"The Commission should stay only in a caretaker role until a new commission is appointed."
During exchanges with Mr William Hague, who argued that the still bigger challenge was to change the entire structure which led the Commission and the Union to try to do too much and to interfere too often, the Prime Minister took a swipe at the Tories with a reminder of the circumstances in which Mr Santer's appointment had been approved by the previous government.
To Labour cheers he said: "We cannot have the next president decided in the same way as the last, debating the narrow interests of one country or another. The top jobs, not just in the Commission but throughout the European institutions, should go to the top people.
"Merit and merit alone should decide."
Mr Blair said the appointment of the new president would provide the opportunity "to push through root-and-branch reform of the Commission, its mandate and its method of operation". While the new appointee should be "a thoroughgoing reformer", he said, the heads of EU governments should draw up specific statements on what the aims and mission of the new commission should be.
These should set a clear course for "a Europe of reform and change", said Mr Blair, and the reform agenda should include complete overhaul of the approvals and auditing procedures for financial control.
a new system for financial management and spending programmes.
new procedures for the award of contracts for the provision of services.
new disciplinary procedures so that staff knew exactly what was expected of them, and what would happen if they fell short of those expectations.
a new system of accountability in the Brussels bureaucracy.
Mr Hague pressed Mr Blair to add to that list a binding code of conduct to prevent personal appointments of commissioners and to stamp out nepotism, and an agreement that the European Parliament should be allowed to sack individual commissioners found guilty of misconduct.
While he supported the idea that commissioners who had not been directly implicated by the report should serve out their terms, Mr Hague said this should be an interim measure and that there should be "a total clear-out" and an entirely new set of commissioners appointed.
Mr Blair said the affair would be used by some as "another chance to bash Europe". But intelligently seen, "this is in fact an opportunity to make changes which many of us believe and have argued are long overdue. Let us see that opportunity and use it well."