Posted tagged ‘Jean-Claude Juncker’

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European Union – EU boss threatens to break up US in retaliation for Trump Brexit support

April 2, 2017

EUROPEAN Union boss Jean-Claude Juncker issued a jaw-dropping threat to the United States, saying he could campaign to break up the country in revenge for Donald Trump’s supportive comments about Brexit.

By Nick Gutteridge, Brussels Correspondent
PUBLISHED: 02:14, Fri, Mar 31, 2017 | UPDATED: 12:47, Fri, Mar 31, 2017

Source: European Union – EU boss threatens to break up US in retaliation for Trump Brexit support | Politics | News | Express.co.uk

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EU boss Jean-Claude Juncker

 

GETTY

Donald Trump has previously voiced support for Brexit

In an extraordinary speech the EU Commission president said he would push for Ohio and Texas to split from the rest of America if the Republican president does not change his tune and become more supportive of the EU.The remarks are diplomatic dynamite at a time when relations between Washington and Brussels are already strained over Europe’s meagre contributions to NATO and the US leader’s open preference for dealing with national governments.A spokesman for the bloc later said that the remarks were not meant to be taken literally, but also tellingly did not try to pass them off as humorous and insisted the EU chief was making a serious comparison.

They are by far the most outspoken intervention any senior EU figure has made about Mr Trump and are likely to dismay some European leaders who were hoping to seek a policy of rapprochement with their most important ally.Speaking at the centre-right European People Party’s (EPP) annual conference in Malta yesterday afternoon, the EU Commission boss did not hold back in his disdain for the White House chief’s eurosceptic views.

He said: “Brexit isn’t the end. A lot of people would like it that way, even people on another continent where the newly elected US President was happy that the Brexit was taking place and has asked other countries to do the same.“If he goes on like that I am going to promote the independence of Ohio and Austin, Texas in the US.”Mr Juncker’s comments did not appear to be made in jest and were delivered in a serious tone, although one journalist did report some “chuckles” in the audience and hinted the EU boss may have been joking. The remarks came in the middle of an angry speech in which the top eurocrat railed widely against critics of the EU Commission.

And reacting to the furore which followed them, EU Commission deputy chief spokesman Alexander Winterstein explained: “You will have seen that this is not the first time the President draws this analogy and I think he’s making a point that is as simple as it is valid.

“He does not suggest that certain states should secede from the United States and at the same time I think he considers it also not terribly appropriate for other heads of states to suggest that member states of the EU leave the EU. So I think that’s the comparison that he’s drawing.”

The outburst will be seen as totally inexplicable at a time when EU-US relations appeared to be on the mend, with Vice-President Mike Pence having completed a largely successful trip to Brussels and the commander-in-chief himself significantly softening his tone towards the EU project.

Mr Juncker did not criticise Britain at all during his speech, and only made reference to Brexit in relation to Mr Trump and the opportunities it presents for Europe to reform itself.

He told the audience in Malta: “Brexit isn’t the end of everything. We must consider it to be a new beginning, something that is stronger, something that is better.”

Speaking before him, EU Council president Donald Tusk was less reserved in his remarks about the UK vote as he tore into the populist politics which led to Brexit.The Polish eurocrat said the argument over sovereignty – epitomised by the Vote Leave slogan ‘take back control’ – was “a view that is both foolish and dangerous” and that the EU guaranteed countries’ strength of the world stage.He also accused populist politicians, such as the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders and France’s Marine Le Pen, of promoting “organised hatred” with their views on immigration.

However his conservative colleague Antonio Tajani, the EU Parliament president, received a rapturous ovation as he launched an impassioned defence of Europe’s “Christian values”.In a series of thinly veiled comments about immigration, a major political issue in his homeland and Malta, the Italian official said Europe should do more to defend its historic identity.He said: “We shouldn’t be ashamed of saying we’re Christian. We’re Christian, it is our history.

“If we leave our identity we will have in Europe all identities but not European identities. For this we need to strengthen our identity.

“It is impossible to win without identity, without our values. Of course we are different, many languages, many ideas, but we are united on the values and this is the most important content.”

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French blogger lashes out at YouTube for trying to ‘censor’ her interview with Juncker — RT News

September 19, 2016

French blogger lashes out at YouTube for trying to ‘censor’ her interview with Juncker

Published time: 19 Sep, 2016 13:51

Source: French blogger lashes out at YouTube for trying to ‘censor’ her interview with Juncker — RT News

 

Screenshot of the interview between video blogger Laetitia Birbes and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker © Youtube

A French video blogger who interviewed European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker has exposed a video in which a YouTube representative tries to censor her “super tough” questions. The embarrassing scene was caught on hidden camera.

“You don’t want to get on the wrong side of YouTube and the European Commission, or of the people who trust you. Except if you don’t care about having a long career on YouTube,” a YouTube employee tells Birbes, adding that he would have to discuss potential “red-flag” questions with Juncker’s spokesperson, Natasha Bertaud.

“At the beginning, I realized that YouTube was trying to gently influence me,” Birbes said in her video statement on Facebook. “Then eventually it got more serious, and at some point I felt threatened.”

YouTube wanted the conversation with Juncker to be a politics-free chat, nothing to write home about. “They wanted me to ask super soft questions. The goal was to give advertisement to Juncker.”

“They suggested I ask Juncker ‘What is happiness?’ [and] discuss his vintage Nokia phone and his dog named ‘Plato,’” Birbes told French news website Rue 89.

The French blogger, who is the host of the YouTube channel ‘Le Corps, la Maison, l’Esprit’ (The Body, the Home, the Spirit), with over 64,000 subscribers, said she was pressed to make a tough choice.

“What was difficult for me is that I felt a ball in my stomach when I talked to the YouTube guy,” she recalled.

“Clearly, I had to decide: Take the risk and lose everything I’ve succeeded in so far in order to ask the questions [that I chose], or stay within the system and ask the questions suggested by YouTube. I decided to run the risk. I wanted to be honest with myself and with all those people who trust me,” the blogger said in her video.

Birbes jumped at the opportunity to grill Juncker about his predecessor José Manuel Barroso’s controversial job at Goldman Sachs, as well as about Luxembourg’s tax policies under his terms as Prime Minister and Finance Minister.

A spokesperson for Google (which owns YouTube) has denied any intention to shape Birbes’ interview with Juncker.

“Laetitia had some tough questions for President Juncker and before the interview, asked for our advice on how to phrase them,” the spokesperson, who declined to be named, told Politico. “Our colleague encouraged her to be respectful, rather than confrontational — that is all that happened here.”

Birbes said in her video that after the Juncker interview, Google offered her a chance to become a YouTube ambassador for humanitarian projects, with a grant of €25,000 ($27,900).

“I feel at a loss. Why are they proposing this contract at this particular moment? Is it honest or not? Are they doing it to buy me off, for not showing the video, not talking about this?” Birbes asked. “I can’t sign it right now.”

“I was really shocked to have been manipulated and threatened like this. I can’t keep silent [about it],” she said.

“I’d like YouTube to pledge publicly for no more manipulating, threatening and instrumentalizing YouTube content makers,” she added.

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EU President: “Borders Are The Worst Invention Ever Made By Politicians”

August 24, 2016

EU President: “Borders Are The Worst Invention Ever Made By Politicians”

by Tyler Durden
Aug 23, 2016 3:40 PM

Source: EU President: “Borders Are The Worst Invention Ever Made By Politicians” | Zero Hedge

If The British needed any more confirmation of their decision to leave The EU, Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, just gave them a big one. The often incoherent “when it’s important, you have to lie” politician spewed more United States Of Europe tripe this morning when he called for European nations to drop border controls, claiming that borders were “the worst invention ever.” Britain’s new PM, Theresa May, was not amused…

Speaking at the European Forum Alpbach in Austria’s Tyrol, Mr Juncker said: “Borders are the worst invention ever made by politicians” and said solidarity must be given to refugees and their children… (Border bullshit starts at 10:15 – note the mindless applause from the audience when Juncker drops his line)

As The Express reports,

Mr Juncker’s comments were taken as a sign that he intends to block attempts to tighten border checks to deal with the migrant crisis overwhelming Europe.

 

It is also a challenge to France and Belgium who have pushed for an end to the Schengen free-movement zone across the EU to stop terrorists crossing the Continent without checks after Europe was rocked by a series of atrocities.

 

The intervention from Mr Juncker came as Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Francois Hollande and Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi met on the Italian island of Ventotene where the concept of the EU was first dreamt up, to discuss the impact of Brexit.

 

The latest views of Mr Juncker, who also said the EU needs to “block popular nationalism” in response to Brexit, were immediately disagreed with by Theresa May.

Britain’s new prime minister Theresa May was not impressed by Juncker’s de-sovereignisation rhetoric… (via The Telegraph)

 “This is not something that the Prime Minister would agree with and, indeed, you have heard the Prime Minister talk about the views that the British people expressed in the referendum.

 

 

“The British people think that borders are important, having more control over our borders is important, and that is an issue we need to address.”

And, unsurprisingly, UKIP spokesman Peter Whittle said that Juncker’s comments were “beyond parody”…

This was another reason “why we must exit the EU as quickly as possible, otherwise our security could be left exposed by Juncker’s anti-borders policy.

 

“Safe and secure borders help to define a nation, you only have to look at Germany to see what happens when you when you effectively discard them.

 

“Mr Juncker is also well behind the curve to think he, or his colleagues amongst the European political elite, can stop popular democracy from flourishing across Europe following the historic Brexit vote.

 

“I’m happy to predict that Britain will not be the only country to leave the EU and become a free and sovereign nation again,” added Ukip’s national culture spokesman.

The big question is – of course – what will George Soros demand of Juncker next?

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Juncker: No Matter How Bad Migrant Crisis, Terrorism Gets, We’ll Never Give Up On Open Borders

July 28, 2016

Juncker: No Matter How Bad Migrant Crisis, Terrorism Gets, We’ll Never Give Up On Open Borders

Source: Juncker: No Matter How Bad Migrant Crisis, Terrorism Gets, We’ll Never Give Up On Open Borders

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN/AFP/Getty Images

Jean-Claude Juncker has vowed that no matter how bad terrorism or the migrant crisis gets, the European Union (EU) will never give up on open borders. The European Commission president said terrorism could be countered with better intelligence-sharing between member states.

On France 2’s Four Truths programme this morning, Mr. Juncker said “a lot of initiatives” will be required to strengthen security in the EU. After a bloody month for Europe in which the continent has seen multiple Islamic terror attacks — four in the last week in Germany alone — the EU president insisted better communication between member states would solve the problem.

Mr. Juncker told presenter Gilles Bornstein that he “expected a better response from member states regarding the exchange of information between police and intelligence services”.

The EU chief said he believes member states “are not yet used to the obvious need there is to better share information”.

Mr. Juncker insisted that however bad the “migrant crisis” and terrorism in Europe gets, the EU will never call into question the free movement of people within the bloc.

“This is one of the four fundamental freedoms of the founding Treaty of Rome. It is an inviolable principle,” he said.

In the interview on the publicly owned broadcaster, Mr. Juncker also mused on a number of other issues such as this year’s U.S. presidential race, and Turkish accession to the EU. The unelected European People’s Party figure told Mr. Bornstein that “Turkey is not in a position to join the EU in the short and medium term”.

“If Turkey reintroduced the death penalty, negotiations would stop immediately,” he added.

Mr. Juncker said he considers it illegitimate for him to “interfere in the Democratic [party] Republican [party] debate”, but the EU chief admitted he would prefer Hillary Clinton in the White House to Donald Trump.

The President of the European Commission is not just committed to open borders within Europe. Under his presidency, the European Commission lists migration as one of its priorities. As well as offering residency to the world’s “refugees”, the Commission seeks to make it much easier and more desirable for Africans and their families to move to EU countries.

Speaking after Islamic terror attacks left 130 dead in Paris last November, Mr. Juncker rejected calls to rethink the EU’s open doors policy on migration from Africa and the Middle East. Dismissing suggestions that open borders led to the attacks, Mr. Juncker said he believed “exactly the opposite” – that the attacks should be met with a stronger display of liberal values including open borders.

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Turkey’s Erdoğan threatened to flood Europe with migrants, leak reveals

February 9, 2016

Turkey’s Erdoğan threatened to flood Europe with migrants, leak reveals

February 08, 2016, Monday/ 17:03:09/ TODAY’S ZAMAN

Source: Turkey’s Erdoğan threatened to flood Europe with migrants, leak reveals

Turkey’s Erdoğan threatened to flood Europe with migrants, leak reveals

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker welcomes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (L) at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels on Oct. 5, 2015. (Photo: Cihan)

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threatened to send buses full of refugees to Greece if the EU did not finalize an agreement with Turkey over the action plan to stem the flow of refugees to Europe, according to the leaked transcript of a meeting between Erdoğan and leaders of the EU.

The transcript, published by the Greek-based euro2day.gr online news portal, claims to be the minutes of a meeting of Erdoğan, President of the European Council Donald Tusk and President of the European Commission (EC) Jean-Claude Juncker.

According to the transcript Erdoğan pushes the EU leaders for 3 billion euros per year, for two years, instead of 3 billion euros over two years, which the EU proposed. According to the leak, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who was present at the meeting, showed Juncker an internal document belonging to the EC, which stated 3 billion euros per year.

Erdoğan also asks whether the proposal would be for 3 billion or 6 billion euros. When Juncker confirmed 3 billion, Erdoğan said Turkey did not need the EU’s money.

“We [Turkey] can open the doors to Greece and Bulgaria any time, and we can put the refugees on buses,” Erdoğan was quoted as saying.

The meeting was held in Antalya in the run-up to the EU-Turkey summit on Nov. 29, 2015, in which the action plan that envisages Turkey stemming the flow of Syrian refugees to Europe was signed.

In return for keeping the refugees, the EU promised Turkey 3 billion euros, visa-free travel to Europe, the inclusion of Turkish officials in EU summits and a re-invigoration of Turkey’s EU accession process — starting with the opening of the 15th chapter of the negotiation acquis.

All 28 EU countries recently signed off on the proposal to allocate the funds to Turkey at a meeting in Brussels. The funds will be given to Ankara in return for Turkey culling the flow of immigrants to Europe.

In response to Today’s Zaman, the EU Commission declined to comment on the leak.

The transcript states that Erdoğan said the agreement on the action plan is to keep alive the Schengen project, which allows free travel among most EU member states. Many officials, including Tusk, have warned about the impending collapse of the Schengen project if the refugee crisis is not tended to urgently.

In the transcript Juncker replies to Erdoğan stating that if Schengen collapses Turkey can have no visa liberalization deal with the EU and will have to apply for visa exemptions on a bilateral basis.

According to the minutes of the meeting, Tusk told Erdoğan that the EU “really wants a deal” with Turkey, to which Erdoğan replied: “So how will you deal with the refugees if there is no deal? Kill the refugees?”

Also Erdoğan tells the EU leaders that the delaying of the European Commission’s Progress Report did not help the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to win the Nov. 1 election last year.

“Anyway, the report was an insult. Who prepared it, anyway? How can you come up with this? It’s not the real Turkey. You [EU leaders] never came to me to learn the truth,” Erdoğan said, according to the transcript.

“Again, no chapters have been opened yet, despite our [Turkey] good progress. We [Turkey] used to be at EU summits, but for 11 years you [EU officials] don’t want to be seen with us. And for five years there has been no opening of chapters,” Erdoğan said.

The EC’s report on Turkey, originally set to be published on Oct. 14, 2015, was held back until after the Nov. 1 election. It criticized the AK Party over backtracking on the rule of law, media freedom and judicial independence.

Juncker, however, is quoted as saying that the report was delayed upon Erdoğan’s request. “Why else would we be willing to get criticized for it [delaying the report]?” he was reported to have said.

Erdoğan also says Luxembourg, Juncker’s native country, is the size of a town in Turkey and that Turkey should not be compared with other EU member states due to its size.

The report prompted a member of the European Parliament from the Greek centrist party To Potami to ask the European Commission to confirm the purported talks.

“If the relevant dialogues between the EU officials and the Turkish President are true, it seems that there are aspects of the deal between Ankara and the EU which were concealed on purpose,” Miltos Kyrkos said in the question he submitted to the Commission.

“We want immediately an answer on whether these revelations are true and where the Commission’s legitimacy to negotiate, using Turkey’s accession course as a trump card, is coming from,” Kyrkos said.

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Turning point? EU Commission head says relations with Russia ‘must be improved,’ US ‘can’t dictate’

October 9, 2015

Turning point? EU Commission head says relations with Russia ‘must be improved,’ US ‘can’t dictate’ Published time: 9 Oct, 2015 04:13 Edited time: 9 Oct, 2015 09:10

Source: Turning point? EU Commission head says relations with Russia ‘must be improved,’ US ‘can’t dictate’ — RT News

 

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker © Vincent Kessler

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker © Vincent Kessler / Reuters

Europe must treat Russia with more decency, improve the relationship, and not let EU policies be dictated by Washington, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a surprise speech in Germany.

READ MORE: NATO to create new HQs in Hungary & Slovakia, boost response forces – Stoltenberg

It is now critical for the EU to work on its relations with Russia, Juncker said in the southern German town of Passau: “We must make efforts towards a practical relationship with Russia. It is not sexy but that must be the case, we can’t go on like this.”

Moreover, the US needs to keep its influence out of EU relations with other countries, Juncker added.

“Russia must be treated decently … We can’t let our relationship with Russia be dictated by Washington.”

EU-Russia relations have deteriorated since the EU imposed sanctions on Russia for its alleged role in the Ukrainian conflict. The Russian government has unswervingly denied these allegations.

In the meantime, some progress has recently been reported in eastern Ukraine, as the armed forces of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LNR) have begun withdrawing weapons under 100 mm caliber from the conflict zone. Ukraine’s Joint Staff has also announced the start of a withdrawal of artillery from the region.

The withdrawal of weapons is part of the Minsk agreements, which was agreed upon by the leaders of the Normandy Four, namely France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia, in February. The deal required a ceasefire, a weapons withdrawal, constitutional reforms, legislative recognition of a special status for the unrecognized republics, and release and exchange of prisoners on an all-for-all basis.

READ MORE: Top Ukraine official backs idea ‘to help ISIS take revenge on Russian soldiers in Syria’

However, lasting truce was only reached in late August. Kiev and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics maintain the armistice has been holding since September 1, although both sides still occasionally accuse each other of violations.

Moscow continues to stress the importance of direct dialogue between Kiev and representatives of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told CBS’s ‘60 Minutes’ at the end of September that all countries need to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty.

“At no time in the past, now or in the future has or will Russia take any part in actions aimed at overthrowing the legitimate government,” Putin said, adding that Moscow “would like other countries to respect the sovereignty of other states, including Ukraine. Respecting the sovereignty means preventing coups, unconstitutional actions and illegitimate overthrowing of the legitimate government.”

READ MORE: Moscow ready for more sanctions, regardless of Ukraine crisis – Foreign Ministry

EU sanctions against Russia could be renewed at the end of this year, however, even though some European countries have been hit hard by the fall in trade triggered, in part, by Moscow’s counter-sanctions on food imports.

EU sanctions include restrictions on lending to major Russian state-owned banks, as well as defense and oil companies. In addition, Brussels has imposed restrictions on supplying weapons and military equipment to Russia, as well as military technology, dual-use technologies, high-tech equipment, and technologies for oil production. A number of Russian and Ukrainian officials have also been blacklisted by the West.

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