Juncker attacked over Marx celebration event

Jean-Claude Juncker’s decision to attend an event commemorating Karl Marx has been condemned by Brexiteers.

The European Commission president will deliver a speech to mark 200 years since the co-author of the Communist Manifesto was born.

Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski said Mr Juncker was “showing appalling poor taste” while Ukip deputy chairman Margot Parker said the move was a “slap in the face” to former Soviet-bloc EU states.

Mr Juncker will attend an event in the Das Kapital writer’s birthplace of Trier, Germany, on May 4.

European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said: “He will deliver a speech at the event commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx.”

Asked about the decision to take part in the event, she added: “After decades of experience in politics at national and European level, president Juncker is very well aware of the historical facts and sensitivities.

“Whatever people’s views on Karl Marx are, I think that nobody can deny that Karl Marx is a figure who shaped history in one way or the other.

“Not speaking about him would come close to denying history. So it is in this sense that president Juncker has decided to accept the invitation and speak at the opening ceremony.”

Shrewsbury MP Mr Kawczynski, who was born in communist-era Poland, said: “Juncker is showing appalling poor taste commemorating an ideology which so brutally ravaged half of Europe.”

Ukip East Midlands MEP Ms Parker said: “This is a direct slap in the face of the former Soviet bloc countries of eastern Europe, so much for common values.”

Speech: Jean-Claude Juncker.