サンテール委員会
When incumbent Gijs de Vries stepped down to enter the government of Prime Minister Wim Kok of the Netherlands, Cox was elected president of the ELDR group in the European Parliament in 1998, becoming the first Irishman to lead a political group in the Parliament. He subsequently played a key role in the fall of the Santer Commission by consistently – and loudly – calling for the Commissioners to resign.