Brussels, 27/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - “A bad day for Europe”, said the defeated British prime minister David Cameron, describing the decision by the European Summit on Friday 27 June to propose Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg as the next president of the European Commission. Cameron fiercely opposes Juncker judging him as not being capable of the reforms needed in Europe and put into practice his threat to call for a vote on Juncker. This is the first time that the summit has voted on the head of the Commission as it usually makes the decision by agreement.
Cameron was only backed in his rejection of Juncker by the prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, who voted against the Luxemburger as a matter of principle to protest against the lead candidate system The other 26 member states (Conservative, Liberal and sSocialists) backed Juncker, who said he was “proud and honoured” by the decision.
Cameron thought for a while that he had the backing of the German chancellor, but said on Friday that they had obviously been on opposite sides. He said he was disappointed that some of his colleagues who are lukewarm about Juncker refused to vote against him. Cameron said he had always said what he thought about Juncker and the lead candidate system imposed by the European Parliament and had remained firm in his position. He said it would have been possible to find an alternative that suited all the member states and it might now be “more difficult” to keep the United Kingdom in the European Union.
The British prime minister supported the promises made by Juncker during the campaign and his talk of a fair deal for London in the sense of taking the UK's concerns into account as long as the UK did not stand in the way of greater eurozone integration. Cameron said he was sure that Juncker would respect his manifesto and that he, Cameron, had only lost a battle: “This is going to be a long, tough fight”.
Cameron said he had won his argument on a number of areas of the Commission's work programme and it now had a better programme with more jobs and more free trade along with tackling aspects of freedom of movement which Cameron feels are being abused. The Commission's strategic agenda for the next five years now contains a brief mention of the need to protect against fraud and possible abuse.
Cameron scores some goals
Cameron was able to score some goals on other areas of importance to him, like the extent to which the United Kingdom is integrated in Europe and the review of the institutional process. The British prime minister was able to convince his counterparts that London can move at a different pace and not form part of the “ever closer Union” side of things that is mentioned in the EU treaties. The European summit recognised that this concept allows different integration paths for different countries, allowing those that want greater integration to move forward while at the same time respecting those that do not want greater integration.
Another concession to Cameron was that the process for appointing the president of the European Commission will be re-examined when the new Commission is in place. Cameron is certainly not isolated on this point. Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said the process was a huge problem and did not match the spirit of the treaties. He said he had voted for Juncker because of what he represents politically, adding that he was delighted that, in the conclusions document, there is a paragraph about the reflection to be carried out in the future on this subject.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after the summit that they had stressed the elements that are close to David Cameron's heart, such as the evolution of the European Union and the possibility of a multi-speed Europe, and would take account of the United Kingdom's concern about the development of the EU. She added that, once the president of the European Commission has been elected, the appointment procedure for future presidents would be discussed.
People comment that Merkel backed Junker rather late in the day. She said that the strategic programme is impregnated with the idea of an efficient, modern and more attractive Europe, which is what London wants.
The German chancellor said that a very important decision had been taken with the nomination of Jean-Claude Juncker and the European Parliament could now elect a president. This decision would give Europe a president with huge experience of the European Union, she said. Some leaders, such as Finland's new prime minister, Alexander Stubb, said that backing for Juncker was more a matter of logic than enthusiasm.
Difficult choice for some
Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi pointed out that he was the only European leader who had never met Juncker. He said he had voted on behalf of Italy for Juncker because there was a document on political priorities that focuses on growth and also a political agreement among the Social Democrats to back the EPP's candidate.
The French president, François Hollande, said that France had backed Juncker as a matter of logic rather than personality. Hollande said the most important thing for him was the guidelines and the fact that Juncker's five priorities (growth and jobs, protecting citizens, a European energy union, security and justice and Europe as a global player) are those that France itself wanted.
Similar balanced satisfaction was expressed by Danish Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt. She said they had been very careful in the process and taken it step-by-step. First of all, they had concentrated on what they wanted to have done at EU level rather than on who they wanted to do it. She said that, for Denmark, the names are not the most important thing - what is important is what Europe wants to do together.
Preparing the ground for the next heads. This Brussels meeting was also the opportunity for the 28 EU member states to start drawing up the future institutional picture and to take position on the posts. While some rumours have since Thursday been placing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the successor to President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, other leaders addressed the issue very openly. Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi thus doubted “the possibility of Italy having the presidencies of the European Council and the ECB” but suggested that, with a Commission led by the EPP, the presidency of the European Council, and even the post of high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, could fall to the Social Democrats. Some members of the EPP also hinted on Thursday, at a meeting in Kortrijk in the Flanders region of Belgium, that they could be eyeing up the presidency of the European Council. The future posts will, however, be the subject of an informal summit on 16 July, following on from the election of Jean-Claude Juncker by the European Parliament. France also wants to have its say. Its president, François Hollande, thus stated that France would like “to obtain a vice-presidency in the future European Commission”. “We want to take an important responsibility in the European Commission”, he added. Nevertheless, he said, the issue of names for the future commissioners “was not on the table” on Friday. (SP with AN, MB, LC, EH, CG, EL, MP and IL)