Edith Cresson, the former French prime minister, is to face corruption charges in Belgium over claims that she and her staff misused public money while she served as a European Commissioner in the late 1990s.
The Belgian prosecutors' case revolves around allegations that Cresson and her colleagues drew up false contracts.
Cresson also is facing a separate EU investigation over the scandal that culminated in the mass resignation of all 20 commissioners in 1999. She became the main villain in that saga because she had employed her friend Rene Berthelot, a dentist, to carry out Aids research. He was paid about $260,000 for work which, it was claimed, he was unqualified to perform and which was not completed.
Cresson resigned only when all her colleagues decided to quit after a damning report from a group of "wise men". The episode plunged Jacques Santner's European Commission into an unprecedented crisis and led to a series of reforms.
Cresson, France's first female prime minister, occupied the post for 10 months, ending in 1992. If convicted of fraud she risks five years in prison.
