British Prime Minister David Cameron was expected to make a last-ditch stand against the nomination of Jean-Claude Juncker for European Commission president on Friday, enforcing a point of principle that raises the risk of Britain leaving the EU.
Cameron has made his opposition to Juncker abundantly clear. He sees the former Luxembourg premier as lacking the will and the skills to reform the EU and has told fellow leaders they are making a mistake in backing him — warning of unspecified “consequences” if they persist.
His one remaining ally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, reaffirmed yesterday that he would not support Juncker if Britain forces a vote, as expected.
Photo: AFP
Calling Juncker the wrong man for the job, the prime minister said as he arrived: “There are times when it’s very important that you stick to your principles and you stick to your convictions even if the odds are heavily stacked against you, rather than going along with something that you believe is profoundly wrong. And today is one of those days.”
Despite Cameron’s forthright opposition to Juncker, whose center-right political group won European Parliament elections last month, Britain has failed to persuade almost any of the 27 other member states to support its position.
Juncker’s nomination was to be discussed over lunch on the second day of an EU summit, which began on Thursday.
As well as the commission presidency — one of the EU’s most powerful jobs with sway over legislation affecting 500 million people — the summit was to discuss energy policy and sign free trade and political association agreements with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, increasing EU influence in the ex-Soviet east.
While decisions among EU leaders are normally taken by consensus, Cameron has said he will force a vote on Juncker — an unprecedented move officials wanted to avoid, which now looks inevitable.
British officials acknowledge that he will lose, but say the prime minister is determined to take a stand on principle, opposing not only Juncker as a candidate, but also the process that led to his selection, in which they say the European Parliament effectively imposed its preference on EU leaders.
Referring to last month’s election to the EU legislature, in which Cameron’s Conservatives were beaten by a party that wants out of the bloc, he said: “The European elections showed that there’s huge disquiet with the way the European Union works and yet the response I believe is going to be wrong on two grounds.”
“One on the grounds of principle — it is not right for the elected heads of government of the European countries to give up their right to nominate the head of the European Commission, the important role in Europe. That is a bad principle. And it’s the wrong person. Jean-Claude Juncker has been at the heart of the project and increased the power of Brussels and reduced the power of nation states his entire working life,” Cameron said.
Opinion polls show that many British voters support Cameron taking a hard line on Europe. With the prime minister battling to shore up support for his Conservative party facing an election next year.
However, it leaves Cameron in an uncomfortable position toward his fellow leaders, many of whom are now openly concerned about the possibility of Britain moving inexorably toward the exit.
Cameron, many of whose own Conservatives favor a British exit from the EU, or so-called “Brexit,” has promised voters a referendum on leaving the bloc by 2017 — if he wins re-election next year.
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