The 20-strong Commission quit early on Tuesday after an independent probe accused it of losing control of its 19,000 staff and turning a blind eye to fraud and cronyism.

The unprecedented move sparked a crisis in the 15-nation bloc and left EU officials and governments scratching their heads over what to do.

The easy option of letting the 20 commissioners serve out their term in a caretaker capacity for the remainder of this year appeared to become less viable.

"They must leave now and not in nine months' time," Jose Maria Gil-Robles, president of the European Parliament which played a leading role in forcing the Commission to quit, said on Tuesday.

British prime minister Tony Blair also called for immediate change, saying Commission President Jacques Santer should leave as soon as possible and bereplaced by a new leader.

Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder agreed at ameeting in London on Tuesday that the EU would try to name a successor to Santer at a Berlin summit next week.

However, they were at odds with Italy and Spain, who said Santer and his team should see out their five-year mandate which expires next January.

If a new Commission is appointed, a question mark hangs over whether it should happen before European Parliament elections in June or later in order to give the new assembly a say.

Ambassadors from EU member states met in Brussels on Tuesday night to discuss the various options but reached no conclusions, an EU source said. "There were plenty of questions and few answers so far."

France and Britain called for far-reaching reform of the EU after the report by an independent committee of experts found the Commission bore responsibility for cases of fraud, irregularities or mismanagement in their departments.

Edith Cresson, commissioner responsible for education and aformer French prime minister, was sharply criticised for giving a dentist who was an old friend a job as her scientific adviser.

A combative Santer said he accepted the report's findings in specific cases but could not swallow its conclusions, which he called "not justified" and "shameful".

"The Commission cannot accept this affirmation that the Commission has to bear responsibility for fraud, irregularities and mismanagement. I could never accept that," he told a news conference.

The unrepentant Santer said he was "whiter than white" and would stay on as head of the executive until National governments sought to replace him.

The Commission's resignation made EU president Germany's task in winning agreement on an ambitious overhaul of the bloc's finances all the more difficult.

But Germany said it was determined to get agreement on the financing package at the March 24-25 Berlin summit and dismissed talk the summit would fall victim to the fraud scandal.

The upheavals at the Commission also comeat a bad time when the European Union is teetering on the brink of an all-out confrontation with the United States over banana trade.