‘A United States of Europe’
Juncker lays out his vision for future of the EU – led by a European president – and warns UK it will regret Brexit
JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER yesterday called for an ever-more powerful European Union and warned that Britain would “regret Brexit”, in a defiant speech that was branded a blueprint for a United States of Europe.
The plans push for “ever-closer union” on defence, asylum and foreign policy in a bigger, more powerful bloc under a new, directly elected EU president. A eurozone finance minister would be appointed, with every country to adopt the euro.
Mr Juncker called for a special summit of the 27 remaining member states the day after Brexit in March 2019, in the Romanian city of Sibiu, to map out the future of the EU. He insisted the “wind is back in Europe’s sails” despite deep divisions on eurozone reform, migration quotas and democratic values.
“I have lived the European project my whole life,” Mr Juncker declared as he outlined his federalist vision of common EU policy. “I have fought for it through good times and bad times.”
After almost one hour of his State of the Union speech in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr Juncker, the European Commission president, mentioned Brexit for the first and only time.
“We will always regret this,” said Mr Juncker, before rounding on Ukip MEPS, who had begun to heckle him. “I think you will regret it as well,” he told Nigel Farage, the former party leader.
“We will move on. Brexit is not everything. It is not the future of Europe,” he said to applause in the chamber. “It is not the be all and end all.” Mr Juncker said the roles of European Commission president and European Council president should be merged. “The European landscape would be clearer and more understandable if the European ship was steered by a single captain,” he said.
The passport-free Schengen zone should extend to Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, he added, and measures should be taken to allow Western Balkan countries to join the bloc. He demanded that every EU country adopt the euro and submit to EU banking supervision. “The euro is destined to be the common currency of the entire Union,” Mr Juncker said. National governments should give up their vetoes over tax and foreign policy, he added.
Speaking afterwards, Syed Kamall, the senior Conservative MEP, said: “Mr Juncker said the EU had the wind in its sails. Anyone that heard his speech now knows what direction he is sailing it in – towards a United States of Europe.”
Mr Farage described the speech as “the most open, honest and truly worrying speech I have ever heard in my long years in this place”.
Mr Juncker praised Italy for bearing the brunt of the migration crisis but scolded Hungary and Poland for defying Brussels over asylum-seeker quotas. He hailed steps toward EU cooperation on defence. “By 2025 we need a fully fledged European Defence Union. We need it. And Nato wants it,” he said.
Last year, Mr Juncker conceded, Europe was “battered and bruised by a year that shook our foundations” but employment had risen, the EU economy was growing and the migration crisis had been brought under control. “Let us make the most of the momentum and catch the wind in our sails,” he said. Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, praised the speech, but there were “longer-term, institutional things I am less keen on”. He said: “Juncker is a romantic. I am a politician, not a romantic.”
JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER yesterday laid out his vision for a federalist Europe in an unapologetic and defiant call for EU countries to surrender more national powers to Brussels after Brexit.
The plans, branded a blueprint for a “United States of Europe”, push for “ever closer union” on defence, asylum and foreign policy in a bigger, more powerful bloc under a new directly elected EU president, a eurozone finance minister, and with every country adopting the euro.
After admitting that 2016, the year of the Brexit referendum, had shaken the EU to its foundations, the European Commission president insisted that Brexit was not the “be all and end all”.
“It is not the future of Europe,” he declared to applause in the European Parliament in Strasbourg after warning heckling Ukip MEPS that Britain would “regret Brexit”.
It was the first and only time he mentioned Brexit in the hour-long “State of the Union” annual speech. Pointing to an upswing in the economy and a drop in unemployment, and to renewed enthusiasm for the EU after Brexit, Mr Juncker said the wind was in Europe’s sails. “I have lived and worked for the European project my entire life,” he said before launching into his personal manifesto.
Single EU president
Mr Juncker said that the roles of president of the European Commission, the EU’S civil service which drafts legislation, and president of the European Council, where EU leaders of national governments meet, should be merged.
This radical reform would see the new president accrue much greater power and independence. Currently, the commission president ostensibly takes instruction from the member states in the council.
“The European landscape would be clearer and more understandable if the European ship was steered by a single captain,” he said. Mr Juncker said the new president would be elected by EU citizens voting in Europe-wide European Parliament elections.
He backed the idea of replacing British MEPS with transnational politicians directly elected across Europe and launched new financing rules for EU parties. “We should not be filling the coffers of anti-european extremists,” he said in a swipe at parties such as Ukip.
Member states to lose vetoes
Under Mr Junker’s plans EU leaders in the European Council would lose their veto over aspects of foreign and taxation policy with decisions taken instead by a qualified majority vote.
Currently Eu-wide tax policy such as the financial transaction tax or taxes on the digital economy are blocked by a lack of unanimity.
Eurozone finance minister and the euro
The former prime minister of Luxembourg also called for the creation of the new role of eurozone finance minister. The minister would be the EU’S economic and finance commissioner and absorb the role of president of the Eurogroup meeting of eurozone finance ministers. Under Mr Juncker’s vision, the eurozone would expand to cover the whole European Union. “The euro is destined to be the common currency of the entire European Union,” Mr Juncker said.
All but two member states, one of them Britain, were “duty-bound” to join the single currency and by extension the EU’S Banking Union, he added, before unveiling plans to offer such countries technical and financial assistance to join the euro. Mr Juncker said fiscal discipline on member states in the form of restrictions on national budgets would continue.
He called for new pan-eu agencies for labour, cyber-attacks and counterterrorism. He suggested that the European public prosecutor’s office could prosecute cross-border terrorism cases.
Expansion, Schengen and migration
After calling for a common EU asylum, border control and migration policy, Mr Juncker said that the passport-free Schengen zone should be extended.
Mr Juncker said the EU would grow larger after his mandate ends in 2019 and called for “credible” processes to allow western Balkan countries to join the EU. “It is high time to bring Romania and Bulgaria into the Schengen area.
“Croatia too deserves full membership of the area as soon as all the criteria are met,” Mr Juncker said, after describing eastern Europe as one of the bloc’s “two lungs”.
“In the future, the EU will have more than 27 member states,” Mr Juncker said before ruling out membership for an increasingly authoritarian Turkey for the foreseeable future.
Mr Juncker praised Italy for bearing the brunt of the migration crisis, calling for more irregular migrants to be returned, and criticised countries such as Hungary and Poland who have refused to take in any asylum seekers.
Defence and trade
He hailed steps toward EU co-operation on defence and military research funding. “By 2025 we need a fullyfledged European Defence Union. We need it. And Nato wants it,” he said.
Mr Juncker, who promised the EU would be a world leader on climate change, also vowed that the EU would begin new trade negotiations with Australia and New Zealand. He hoped to finish agreements with Mexico and South American countries by the end of the year. The commission will propose a new investment screening framework for foreign state-owned companies that wanted to buy European infrastructure or defence firms.
East-west divide
Strongly hinting at a tougher enforcement regime of legal sanctions against
countries that defy Brussels such as Hungary, he said: “The rule of law is not optional in the European Union. It is a must.” He said that eastern European workers should be paid the same salary as co-workers in the west and that they should enjoy the same consumer protection. “A Slovak deserves to have as much fish in his fish fingers as anyone else,” he said.
Brexit
Mr Juncker dealt with Brexit in less than 100 words, saying Britain and the EU would “regret” the decision but the EU must not be held back. He urged the EU to hold a summit in Romania shortly after Britain leaves to discuss the future.