Abstract: The Corruption Scandal of the European Commission and its possible effects on the institutional balance and the question of legitimacy The first chapter is an attempt to define corruption. It is important to divide overlapping and complicated terms such as corruption, scandal and fraud. Corruption is defined as an illegal transaction, where both actors benefit from their special position in the market or the government. Scandal is the public reaction to allegations of corruption and thus it is interconnected with the issue of legitimacy. Fraud, however is a purely criminal cathegory. The European Commission is a multicultural and multinational institution of the