Brussels, 09/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - After hearing Jean-Claude Juncker, the candidate nominated by the European Council for the presidency of the next European Commission, in the morning of Wednesday 9 July, the Greens/EFA at the European Parliament appeared divided on what approach should be taken during the plenary vote on 15 July. A formal decision is expected to be taken in principle on Monday 14 July, following another meeting between Juncker and the joint leaders of the group, Rebecca Harms from Germany and Philippe Lamberts from Belgium.
In a brief joint press release after the hearing, the two stated: “Clearly, we come from different political backgrounds and not all his responses matched with our vision for the EU but there is also some common ground”.
Some members of the group thought Junker's performance rather good, with a greenish discourse and humour that had its desired effect. In contrast, one section of the group thought that Junker's tone was convincing but, in substance, no real commitment was made. This second more intransigent faction included Ska Keller from Germany, who flew the colours of the Greens/EFA during the campaign for the Commission presidency. Keller said on Twitter that she regretted that Junker had been unable to provide detailed answers to some questions as the European Commission had still not been put in place. Karima Delli from France also tweeted that she had not been very convinced by Junker's performance. According to allies, she will probably vote against. Opinions are therefore divided but it should also be kept in mind that Junker does not need the votes of the Greens/EFA, due to the coalition between the EPP, S&D and ALDE. Within the party, however, it has been indicated that, in principle, they do not intend to prevent his election.
During his hearing, Juncker said that he was not about defending the status quo and argued that “one becomes president of the Commission to change things that need to be changed”. He also indicated that the troika (Commission, ECB and IMF) which is active in countries receiving financial assistance may now do without the IMF, according to his analysis. He said that initially, “I was against IMF involvement but revised my view”. The Commission did not have the capacity to launch and develop programmes, he explained. “Now, it does have this capacity, therefore the IMF should be involved when it is really necessary” and, if not, it should be left to the EU. He also called for greater involvement by the Eurogroup in the work of the troika and in the process that should also be strengthened democratically.
In his speeches, Junker declared that he wanted Ecofin to take charge of the European budget again. He said that he was in favour of a reduced eurozone budgetary capacity, as well as European unemployment insurance, “but I do not see how this can be done”. He said that thought had to be given to this and he also expressed his wish for youth guarantee funds to be better used, even though the envelope for it had not been exactly overwhelming.
On the question of the United Kingdom, Juncker said that he was open to the idea of handing back certain areas of competence to the country. Without a precise British wish list, all he could say was this should not undermine the four fundamental freedoms of the treaties.
He argued in favour of more ambitious energy efficiency targets but did not provide any figures, despite being asked to by one MEP. In the conclusion of the exchange with this group, Philippe Lamberts pointed out that the EU had contracted several debts over the past five years: financial, social and environmental. The financial debt can be reduced and renegotiated, the social debt reduced, “by massive efforts but cannot be renegotiated” and the environmental debt can neither be reduced nor renegotiated. (EL)