Brussels, President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, has warned the danger for the EU is that Europeans have “lost their collective libido” for each other, but added that in Britain the “bride” – the EU – had been “systematically reviled” from the start and then “rejected”.
Juncker’s remarks on Thursday came ahead of a leaders’ summit on the future of the European Union (EU) in the Romanian city of Sibiu, reports the Guardian.
Juncker, who is set to leave his role in November, said that he believed that the EU’s executive branch under his leadership had focused on the “big things” while exercising “modesty in the small things”.
“I have ensured that the commission no longer gets involved in every tiny detail of citizens’ lives,” he said. “I am both surprised and disappointed that no one has notice this.”
But the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, weeks before the European elections, conceded that the growth of Eurosceptic parties was an ominous sign for the continent.
“We don’t love each other… We have lost our collective libido”
“Brexit is a special case. If you pepper a nation for 40 years with the message that it doesn’t actually belong in the EU, then the decision to leave is the logical outcome. The bride was systematically reviled and then rejected.”
In a separate interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt, Juncker also cited the Brexit impasse in Westminster in arguing that it was unfair for European citizens to blame every failure in European democracy on Brussels.
“The European Commission is doing its best. But it cannot solve every problem. The commission cannot compensate for the weaknesses of the national governments and democracies in Europe. Look at the UK.”
