The European Court of Justice has upheld a decision by the European Commission to sack Mr Bernard Connolly, the former head of the EC's Directorate for Monetary Affairs, who wrote a highly critical book on European Economic and Monetary Union in 1995 - The Rotten Heart of Europe: the Dirty War for Europe's Money.

Mr Connolly, a British economist of Irish extraction, wrote the book while on leave from the Commission. He was sacked on January 16th, 1996. The court said the right to freedom of expression for senior officials of EU institutions was circumscribed. The book's contents were not only critical but "insulting" to his employers.