UK would be better off with me as the PM, brags Juncker
JEAN-CLAUDE Juncker was crit- icised last night for boasting that Britain would be better off if he were prime minister.
The European Commission president made the jibe at a Brussels summit.
Asked about the UK’s proposals for a trade deal as he arrived at the gathering, Mr Juncker told reporters: ‘I’m not the British Prime Minister. It would be good for Britain if I was, but I am not.’
The quip was ridiculed by Brexiteers, with Tory MP Nigel Evans saying: ‘I wouldn’t put Juncker in charge of my wine rack.’
Prominent Eurosceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg said: ‘We would all be much better off if Mr Juncker had remained prime minister of Luxembourg.
‘Ruling over a city state about half the size of Birmingham is much more his level.’
Mr Juncker came under pressure at the summit over how he intends to fill the £10billion-ayear black hole in the EU’s budget left by Britain’s departure. He faced a backlash from EU leaders for planning to increase the EU’s budget after the departure of its second biggest net contributor.
He said: ‘Countries need to be ready to pay more.’ But the Netherlands and Spain have indicated they are reluctant.
Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg’s prime minister, said his country was not willing ‘just to pay more’, adding that Europe needed to be ‘more efficient’.
Dalia Grybauskaite, president of Lithuania, said: ‘Between the payments after Brexit and the promises of new policies, there is a lack of financial resources of about 20 per cent.’
Germany and France are also pushing for a crackdown on EU waste, warning that funding cuts to EU programmes after Brexit could hit efforts to tackle illegal immigration and terrorism.