Juncker outlines five post-Brexit scenarios for EU

EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker presented options on Wednesday for reforming the bloc to shore up its unity and popular support after Britain’s shock decision to withdraw.

Five scenarios in a “white paper” that the president of the European Commission delivered to the European Parliament ranged from changing little to scaling back to just policing a common market to a major leap forward in pooling states’ sovereignty.

Juncker dismissed a much reduced role for the EU, saying the union should have greater ambitions to build on 60 years of promoting peace and prosperity. Leaders of the 27 states, other than Britain, will discuss the white paper when they celebrate the euro bloc’s 60th anniversary in Rome towards the end of March.

Juncker has spoken positively in recent days of one scenario under which some states would integrate further faster — a possibility some governments, especially in the poorer east, fear could entrench divisions to their disadvantage.

But overall, Juncker rejected criticism from some EU legislators that the executive was failing in its leadership role in the union by not spelling out one single set of recommendations.

“I do not operate by executive orders,” Juncker said in a clear dig at US President Donald Trump and his controversial policy directives in recent weeks. “I am not a dictator.”

But this would not mean the end of a “political commission“, he said, reiterating support for his presidency’s motto that implies a more assertive EU executive, but that critics say overstep Brussels’ powers.

More broadly, the former Luxembourg premier said, it was national governments and parliaments that should work on the decisions to reform the EU which, as seen in Britain’s Brexit vote, faces mounting challenges from nationalist eurosceptics.

Noting the tiny resources of the EU’s central budget and a need to show voters the union was doing more to create jobs, Juncker mentioned cooperation in the euro currency zone, security, military affairs and social standards as areas in which European states could work together more, but gave little detail.