EU journalists at the Commission's daily briefing today appeared to wonder what John Dalli had done wrong to resign from the Commission yesterday. Some journalists also quoted Mr Dalli as having said that he had not resigned.

Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen said the resignation declaration was made orally by Mr Dalli to Commission President Barroso but she was not aware of any resignation letter.

During questioning, a journalist pointed out that Ms Hansen had said that the Maltese businessman at the core of the issue had acted 'on behalf' of Mr Dalli.

He asked her to clarify, but Ms Hansen referred the question to Giovanni Kessler, the director general of OLAF, who was due in the briefing hall later.

Several journalists appeared to wonder what the issue was, and what Mr Dalli had done wrong, since all Commissioners were subject to lobbyism. The spokeswoman explained that there was a public/stakeholder consultation process for all initiatives by the Commission, because that was the best guarantee of transparency and there were clear rules on contacts between stakeholders and Commissioners.

Another journalist asked if Mr Dalli was at fault if an indecent proposal was made to him. Was he a victim of shady tricks by the tobacco lobby, as Mr Dalli had said? Ms Hansen again reiterated the contents of yesterday's statement that "OLAF found that the Maltese entrepreneur had approached Swedish Match using his contacts with Mr Dalli and sought to gain financial advantages in exchange for influence over a possible future legislative proposal on snus. No transaction was concluded between the company and the entrepreneur and no payment was made. The OLAF report did not find any conclusive evidence of the direct participation of Mr Dalli but did consider that he was aware of these events."

She added that it was not the Commission's role to establish guilt.

Asked whether Commission President Jose Manoel Barroso had asked Mr Dalli to resign, she said Mr Dalli decided to resign.

She did not say what wrong he had done, and whether his wrong was of not to have informed Mr Barroso of the businessman's alleged contacts.

A journalist said he had been told by Mr Dalli that he had not actually resigned. He asked the spokeswoman to actually produce the resignation letter.

Ms Hansen said she could confirm that he had resigned but said the resignation was oral and no letter had been written.