Jean-Claude Juncker says he won’t seek second term
European Commission president fears Britain will divide the remaining 27 EU countries during Brexit negotiations.
Jean-Claude Juncker, ruled out, once again, a second term as European Commission president, and called for a “more parliamentary system,” in an interview with German radio Deutschlandfunk on Saturday.
Ahead of a series of big elections, Brexit and next month’s 60th birthday party for the European Union, the president sounded a few alarms about divisions within the bloc.
“The fact that a country is leaving, above all a large, important, influential country, remains a continental tragedy in my opinion,” Juncker said, adding that he fears the U.K. will easily succeed in fostering division among the remaining 27 EU countries. “The other 27 are not yet aware of this, but the Brits know very well how they can tackle it,” he said.
The former Luxembourg prime minister became president in 2014, with the support of 26 out of 28 EU governments. He said he would stand down when his term as president ends in 2019.
The president also said that he is fed up with EU states scapegoating Brussels for their own failures, and that he is ready to hit back by modifying the EU’s decision-making process, which allows countries to saddle the Commission with the final call on critical but potentially unpopular policies.
“So this can not go on, this eternal theater that we are experiencing, that one decides in Brussels and that one criticizes at home what one has co-decided,” he said.
Juncker also expressed support for a potential position of “Euro finance minister.” He said that the real question is what competences such a figure would have and to what extent they would be allowed to interfere with national budgets.
Looking back at his 2014 election campaign, Juncker said that he “fell in love with Europe again, because I then rediscovered the European Union’s richness in color.” The election campaign had been beautiful “but… I will not compete again,” he said.