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David Cameron says he can still 'do business' with Juncker

Prime minister telephones European Commission president elect to congratulate him on getting the job

Press Association

theguardian.com, Monday 30 June 2014 / http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jun/30/david-cameron-still-do-business-juncker

David Cameron has insisted he can "do business" with Jean-Claude Juncker just days after denouncing the arch-federalist's nomination for the top job in Brussels as a "bad day for Europe".

The prime minister rang the former Luxembourg premier to congratulate him on securing the support needed to become the next president of the European Commission.

Juncker said he was "fully committed" to finding a solution to British concerns about the European Union during the call and they discussed "how they would work together" to boost competitiveness, according to No 10.

The prime minister has faced criticism of his "cack-handed" negotiating tactics after failing in his bid to block Juncker's nomination to the crucial post.

He will be quizzed in Commons on Monday over the appointment but Tories have insisted he is set to receive "amazing support" from his backbenchers over the position he took.

Labour, however, have branded the failed negotiations as a "catastrophe" for Britain that have taken the UK closer to the "exit door" that could put three million jobs and tens of thousands of businesses at risk.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Cameron has insisted he can still secure reforms to Britain's relationship with Europe.

"I am ready to move on and keep fighting for Britain's interests in Europe," he wrote.

Referring to previous claims by Juncker that he was ready to deliver a "fair deal" for Britain, Cameron said: "If by a fair deal, we can agree that we are not heading, at different speeds, to the same place - as some have assumed up to now - then there is business we can do."

Cameron said his decision to stick to his word showed he meant business.

He added: "Anyone in Europe who thought I was going to back down or blink is now thinking again."

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The prime minister called the commission president-designate, Jean-Claude Juncker, this afternoon. They discussed how they would work together to make the EU more competitive and more flexible.

"The PM welcomed Mr Juncker's commitment of finding a fair deal for Britain and Mr Juncker said that he was fully committed to finding solutions for the political concerns of the UK.

"The PM wished Mr Juncker well with the hearings in the European Parliament and they agreed to speak further at the next European Council on 16 July.

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls said he had "never seen a negotiation so cack-handed".

"We won't be influential in the world, unless we are influential in Europe," he told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show.

"What is David Cameron's European policy? Does he think we should be in Europe? I do. I think that we will only be influential in the world if we are influential in Europe. Does he want reform? He says he does but he can't tell us what his reforms are."

Cameron: I can still do business with Jean-Claude Juncker

David Cameron writes in The Telegraph that he is ready to 'move on and keep fighting for Britain’s interests' after failing in his bid to stop the nomination of Jean-Claude Juncker as European Commission president

By James Kirkup, Political Editor10:00PM BST 29 Jun 2014 / The Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/10934586/Cameron-I-can-still-do-business-with-Jean-Claude-Juncker.html

David Cameron has declared that he can “do business” with Jean Claude Juncker, insisting that Britain’s drive for European Union reform remains on track.

Writing in The Telegraph, the Prime Minister said the nomination of Mr Juncker as the new head of the European Commission despite fierce British resistance has made him all the more determined to change the way the EU works.

Mr Cameron was last week outvoted by other EU leaders over the choice of Mr Juncker, a former prime minister of Luxembourg and supporter of a federal Europe.

Some Conservative MPs have said that the result shows that Mr Cameron’s attempt to renegotiate Britain’s EU membership before an in/out referendum promised in 2017 is doomed to failure.

But the Prime Minister insisted that he can still agree important changes, adding: “I am ready to move on and keep fighting for Britain’s interests in Europe.”

The new commission head will accept that Britain cannot be part of any move towards an “ever-closer” political union, the Prime Minister suggested.

During his campaign for the presidency, Mr Juncker said he was ready to deliver a “fair deal” for Britain, Mr Cameron noted.

“If by a fair deal, we can agree that we are not heading, at different speeds, to the same place — as some have assumed up to now — then there is business we can do,” he wrote.

Before Mr Juncker’s nomination at an EU summit in Brussels last week, Mr Cameron and British ministers launched outspoken criticism of the new president, describing him as an old-fashioned Brussels insider unwilling to reflect voters’ desire for reform.

Mr Juncker is said to have been personally upset by the vigorous British campaign against him. Allies blame Britain for drawing attention to questions about his alcohol consumption.

Signalling an end to hostilities, Mr Cameron and Mr Juncker spoke by telephone on Sunday.

Downing Street said Mr Cameron congratulated Mr Juncker on his nomination and the two men discussed how to work together.

None the less, the Prime Minister admitted that his defeat over Mr Juncker will make it harder for him to win significant reforms and then persuade British voters to accept them in a referendum.

He also suggested that by publicly clashing with his European colleagues he has ensured that he will be taken seriously in negotiations, adding: “Anyone in Europe who thought I was going to back down or blink is now thinking again.”

Meanwhile, Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, has said that “historically, politically, democratically, culturally, Great Britain is entirely indispensable for Europe”.

He added that Britain’s exit from the union was “unimaginable”.

Europeias: o stress pós-traumático

Cameron não avaliou os estragos e assinou um atestado de menoridade

Por Ana Sá Lopes

publicado em 30 Jun 2014 in (jornal) i online

Independentemente do que se pense sobre Jean-Claude Juncker – e há vários motivos para se pensar mal – foi um avanço para a incipiente democracia europeia que Juncker tenha sido indicado para suceder a Durão Barroso em vez de os governos cozinharem, nas costas dos eleitores, uma solução qualquer. Desta vez, os partidos europeus tinham apresentado candidatos à presidência da Comissão Europeia e, por uma vez, os líderes decidiram não torpedear os mínimos de democracia a que a Europa se condenou. Mesmo contra a sua própria vontade, Angela Merkel lá acabou a apoiar Juncker – não é segredo no mainstream europeu que Angela partilhava com os socialistas uma preferência por Martin Schulz, personagem eminente do SPD, com quem Angela agora tem um acordo de governo que não passa, por exemplo, pela institucionalização de eurobonds.

Juncker é favorável aos eurobonds e, num debate recente com Schulz, conseguiu ser mais peremptório do que o candidato social-democrata em defesa de um instrumento essencial para a protecção dos países frágeis que, como nós, estão dentro do euro disfuncional.

Merkel foi obrigada a aceitar Juncker contra vontade e isso é uma vantagem para todos os que não se revêem na Europa alemã – e aí Juncker é totalmente diferente do cessante presidente da Comissão, aquele que há 10 anos abandonou o governo português para ir lá para fora lutar pela vida e, alegadamente, pelos interesses de Portugal. Chama-se José Manuel Barroso e conseguiu estar no olho do furacão sem ficar para a história.

Se a vitória do PPE (magrinha, mas vitória) obrigava em consequência à indicação do candidato Juncker, o stress pós-traumático destas europeias não vai ser resolvido do pé para a mão – e não vamos falar de Portugal, só para desenjoar. O eurocéptico Cameron (retirou os tories do PPE, lembram-se?) tornou-se cada vez mais eurocéptico desde que Nigel Farage conseguiu pôr o UKIP a ganhar as europeias no Reino Unido. E, num statement mais para consumo interno do que externo, decidiu anunciar a retirada do Reino Unido da União Europeia caso Juncker viesse a presidir à Comissão. Cameron não avaliou bem os estragos: a economia britânica, refugiada na libra esterlina, lucra bastante com a pertença à União Europeia – e bloqueia várias mudanças em defesa dos especuladores da City. Como Cameron não vai fazer o que prometeu, assinou o seu atestado de menoridade.