Dublin, 07/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - After a while in the political doldrums after losing the general election in Luxembourg in the autumn, the former prime minister of Luxembourg and former head of Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, returned to centre stage in Dublin on Friday. The fifty-nine-year-old, who spent 18 years as his country's prime minister, was selected by the European People's Party (EPP) as their candidate to replace the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso. He had been the favourite for several weeks in the polls, and Jean-Claude Juncker was finally elected by 382 votes. His sole competitor, Michel Barnier (of France), continued lobbying hard until the last minute but was only able to muster 245 votes (39.1% of votes to 60.9%)
Visibly disappointed, Barnier had to battle with a serious handicap. His circles point out that 11 of the 12 EPP heads of state backed Juncker, and Angela Merkel swung the balance in the favour of her protégé from Luxembourg. The source said that Jean-Claude Juncker didn't even have to campaign because all the CDU deputies went to talk with their peers to get them to vote for him.
There was still some doubt about the outcome on Thursday evening, particularly about which way the Spanish delegation would be voting, but a Spanish EPP source said on Thursday evening that Spain likes Barnier, but they want a Spaniard to chair Eurogroup, and therefore they have to support Angela Merkel's man. At midday on Friday, more than 200 delegates with voting rights did not vote - either abstaining or not turning up for the vote.
Jean-Claude Juncker achieved a comfortable victory nonetheless, and the former head of Eurogroup attempted to put an end to speculation that he wanted to become the president of the European Council. He said that under the EU treaties that he himself had negotiated and signed, the president of the European Commission has to be chosen in the light of the European Parliament election results and if the EPP wins, then the European summit would chose him.
Jean-Claude Juncker joked about the subject, saying he was not offended in the slightest that his name had been suggested to head both the Commission and the Council because that meant that he was a rare product.
Juncker will not stand for in the European elections. More seriously, the former pm of Luxembourg said that he would not be standing in the European Parliament because he did not want to become an MEP and it made no sense to throw himself into a campaign only to withdraw at the end even if he were successful.
Juncker describes himself as a true European who has been head of the Council and spent eight years at the helm of Eurogroup. He explained that in 2005, he had had to deal with the outcome of the French and Dutch no votes on the constitutional treaty. Jean-Claude Juncker won applause from the German chancellor when he talked about the fate of young unemployed Europeans, who risked becoming a lost generation, he said.
Warmly applauded in the conference room, the French commissioner spoke mostly in English. Mentioning some of his plans, including a number that he has in common with Jean-Claude Juncker (like the fact that the EU needs to be less in the news on issues which citizens are not interested in), Barnier's speech was lack-lustre and failed to impress Angela Merkel.
Now that it has decided on its candidate, the EPP will now get its European election campaign off the ground, although a little late compared with the socialists, admitted Jean-Claude Juncker. He warned that he won't have time to visit all the member states, but will be helped in the election campaigning by the prime ministers of Latvia and Finland, Valdis Dombrovskis and Jyrki Katainen respectively, who will also be travelling around. What about Michel Barnier? He said on 6 March that he was not planning to stand in the European elections, but promised on Friday to support the EPP's candidate and devote all his energy for the French elections that look as if they will be tough for the conservatives. (SP)