European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso did not need to sack John Dalli since the former Commissioner decided to step down of his own free will, a Commission spokesman yesterday insisted.

A day after President Barroso’s warning to Mr Dalli to “behave with integrity”, the Commission’s spokesman Olivier Bailly dismissed suggestions put forward by Mr Dalli that he had not been given time to defend himself.

“Dalli was not taken by surprise by OLAF. He was informed about the investigation and the allegations against him and invited to give his views. He was given the right to respond to the accusations and did this with the support of his legal advisor,” Mr Bailly said.

As the issue of Mr Dalli’s resignation, in the wake of an EU anti-fraud probe, was once again raised by several journalists during yesterday’s midday briefing in Brussels, Mr Bailly reiterated that the Commission is considering the case closed.

“We have already said that Mr Dalli accepted the invitation to resign twice and in the presence of witnesses. For us the issue is closed,” he said. “Even Malta agrees with this as on Saturday the Maltese Government communicated its nomination to President Barroso of a new candidate to replace Mr Dalli,” he said.

Mr Dalli has not yet submitted a formal letter of resignation to the European Commission, because he is claiming that Mr Barroso has not yet given him the formal reasons for his resignation under Article 17.6 of the Treaty of the European Union.

Referring to suggestions that the removal of Mr Dalli might have been an entrapment by the tobacco industry to stop the tobacco directive, Mr Bailly said that the Commission “sees no plot” with the fact that the inter-services consultations had been stopped twice.

“This is something that happens every day in the Commission for various technical reasons,” he explained.

According to the spokesman, the Commission is committed to push forward the tobacco directive and work on it will resume once the new Commissioner is in place.

The spokesman said Mr Dalli’s forced resignation was only the result of a political assessment by President Barroso, as Mr Dalli’s position following the OLAF findings had become untenable.

Asked once again for the publication of the report, Mr Bailly said it was up to the Maltese authorities to decide on this issue.