|
By ANDREW RETTMAN
BRUSSELS, 29. JUN,
18:14
European Commission
chief Jean-Claude Juncker said he “doesn’t care” about
criticism of his handling of Brexit and told Austria to “stop
messing around” on complaints that he bypassed national MPs.
“Some have said
that I interfered in the Dutch referendum on Ukraine and some others
have criticised me for not becoming involved in the UK issue and
frankly, I don’t care”, he told press after an EU summit in
Brussels on Wednesday (29 June).
“I have no
intention of being influenced one way or another by this kind of
criticism”, he said.
He said that he had
stayed out of the national UK debate at British prime minister David
Cameron’s request.
His reference to the
Dutch referendum came after he told Dutch people in April that it
would cause a “continental crisis” if they rejected an EU-Ukraine
trade treaty. Dutch voters later rejected the treaty.
EU Council chief
Donald Tusk, who also attended Wednesday's press briefing, defended
the commission chief.
He said Juncker had
negotiated the best deal possible on the UK's reformed EU membership
prior to the British referendum.
"I don’t
understand this kind of thinking," he added, referring to those
who blamed the commission chief.
Leaders and
ministers from some central and eastern European states had, prior to
the summit, said that Juncker should resign over Brexit. Poland also
said that Tusk should step down.
Polish prime
minister Beata Szydlo repeated the idea on Wednesday, but in less
strident terms than before.
“Politicians must
take responsibility for their work … political responsibility for
what happened among those around the table yesterday was voiced only
by [British leader] David Cameron. That’s all I wanted to say at
this point”, she said.
Hungarian leader
Viktor Orban said it was the wrong moment to attack the commission
chief.
“It would be cheap
and unchivalrous to attack the EU commission president in such a
situation. We won't do it”, he said.
"Hungary will
not call for personal consequences,” he said.
He said he
“understood” Juncker’s “frustration” that leaders, such as
Cameron, constantly complained about the EU. “Brussels is full of
frustrated people”, he said.
But he added that
neither Hungary or the UK had backed Juncker for the EU job in 2014.
He also said that
further EU integration, such as the new election-linked process that
led to Juncker’s elevation, was one reason for British
euroscepticism.
“These smaller
episodes played a part in the bigger drama, the exit of the UK”,
Orban said.
Austria criticism
Juncker and Orban
had earlier fallen out over a commission plan to impose migrant
relocation quotas on member states.
Juncker and Austrian
chancellor Christian Kern are currently at odds over the role of
national MPs in the ratification of an EU trade pact with Canada,
also known as CETA.
The commission opted
to ratify it directly without the 28 national EU parliaments, but
Kern said that the Brexit crisis showed people wanted more national
say over EU decisions.
Juncker said on
Wednesday that he felt “duty bound to bring this [trade pact] to
the moment of ratification”.
He said G7 leaders
and all EU leaders individually had urged him to do the same.
“To say I had a
personal preference that national parliaments shouldn’t have a say
is absurd”, he added. He said that he “respected Austrian
democracy”, but told Kern to “stop messing around”.
US trade deal
Kern continued his
criticism at the EU summit.
Contradicting
Juncker, he told press that the leaders of Germany, France and
Luxembourg shared his point of view.
He also warned that
if the EU failed to win public support for CETA, then it would
jeopardise the success of an EU-US trade pact, known as TTIP, which
is being negotiated.
"If you
approach CETA in this way then I have no doubt that TTIP will
immediately be buried as well," Kern said.
French president
Francois Hollande voiced similar views.
He told journalists
that national parliaments should hold debates on the Canada
agreement. "It takes more time, but it is part of what we must
offer to the democratic debate," he said.
|
Report:
Berlin wants Juncker to resign as EU commission chief
By NIKOLAJ NIELSEN
BRUSSELS, TODAY,
09:29
Berlin is piling on
pressure for European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker to
step down, according to the Sunday Times.
The newspaper
reported that German chancellor Angela Merkel is unhappy with how
Juncker handled the lead up to Britain's exit from the EU as well as
his plans to take charge of its exit negotiations.
An unnamed German
minister told the paper that pressure for Juncker "to resign
will only become greater and chancellor Merkel will eventually have
to deal with this next year".
“Juncker has time
and again acted against the common interest and his reaction to the
British referendum has been very damaging,” said the source.
The tensions are, in
part, rooted in who takes the lead in talks when the UK formally
declares its departure by triggering article 50 of the EU treaty.
Both the EU states
and the EU commission have been jockeying over the role.
Juncker had
attempted to place his top adviser Martin Selmayr as chief negotiator
in the talks but was outmanouevered when the EU Council created a
Brexit task force led by Belgian diplomat Didier Seeuws.
The appointement is
said to have outraged Selmayr, while a commission source told
EUobserver that the Council was rushing to take the leading role over
the commission.
Juncker is also
pushing for a swift UK exit amid calls that delays will prolong
uncertainty, while Merkel and some EU states want a more measured
approach.
More Europe?
Such moves are part
of much larger debate following the UK referendum on how to reshape
the future of the European Union in terms of rebalancing powers
between Brussels and the EU capitals.
Juncker, along with
EU parliament president Martin Schulz, are pushing for deeper EU
integration.
Some see the idea as
an effort to ween away power from the capitals, which could feed
euroscepticsm, however. Both Merkel and her finance minister Wolfgang
Schaeuble view "more Europe" as a form of intensified
cooperation between states and not as a further transfer of power to
Brussels.
Slovakia, which now
heads the rotating EU presidency, also wants to roll back influence
from Brussels and give EU states more say on issues like migration.
In mid-September,
the remaining 27 member states will meet at a summit in Bratislava to
discuss the future of the European Union.
The summit location
in the Slovak capital is not without its own symbolic meaning - such
events are typically held in Brussels.
Sturgeon meeting
Merkel has also
reportedly said that Juncker has become "part of the problem"
and that his recent meeting with Scotland’s first minister Nicola
Sturgeon was provocative.
The majority of
Scots had voted to remain in the EU. Sturgeon, within a week of the
referendum results, was seen standing with Juncker in Brussels
calling for independence.
Although Juncker
said the EU commission had no intention to interfere with Scotland's
desire to join the EU, he told reporters that it had "won the
right to be heard in Brussels."
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário