‘Brexit isn’t everything’: Juncker sets out his vision for a strong Europe
Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, yesterday told the European Parliament that Brexit would not define Europe’s future.
“We will regret Brexit,” Mr Juncker said. “I think they [the British] will regret it, too. But we will keep moving. Brexit isn’t everything. It’s not the future of Europe.”
In his state of the union address, he proposed measures that he said would deepen European union.
Mr Juncker also called for a summit to be held in Romania on March 30, 2019, the day after Britain secedes from the EU, at which it could “start its future as 27 members”.
He said that the last time he had delivered the annual address, the continent and its institutions “were not in a good state”.
But through unity, the EU’s economic outlook has improved enormously.
Growth across the union had outstripped the United States for the past two years and eight million jobs have been created.
A trade deal has been completed with Canada within the past year and negotiations continue on deals with Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Mr Juncker had stern words for German car makers over the Volkswagen emissions scandal and he committed the EU to leading the global fight against climate change, noting a “reduction in ambition from the United States”. He also hailed progress made in the migrant crisis. The number of people entering Europe through Turkey and Greece was cut by 97 per cent in the past year.
Last month the number entering via Italy, through its “perseverance and generosity” had decreased by 81 per cent from August last year.
Mr Juncker ruled out membership of the EU for Turkey in the near future and attacked its moves on press freedom, demanding that president Recep Tayyip Erdogan “let our journalists go” – a reference to arrests of French and German members of the press.
Mr Juncker played to a gallery of EU enthusiasts, calling for a summit on the day after Britain leaves the bloc