Arch EU federalist and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker claimed it would be better for Britain if he were Prime Minister.
Juncker made the comment on Friday on the way to an EU summit when he was asked for his thoughts on a high-level Cabinet meeting of the British government the day before.
“I am not commenting on the outcome of the Chequers meeting until I know the exact conclusions,” Juncker replied.
“I am not a British prime minister, it would be good for Britain if I was.”
Conservative MP Nigel Evans, executive secretary of the 1922 Committee, allegedly reacted to the remarks by saying: “I wouldn’t put Juncker in charge of my wine rack.”
EU officials immediately went into damage control and insisted Juncker’s remarks were “good-natured” and “clearly a joke”.
Juncker has previously voiced his disdain for countries and leaders that push back against the progressive, federalist bloc.
At an EU summit in 2015, press heard the former prime minister of tax haven Luxembourg welcome the conservative, anti-mass migration Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán with the greeting, “hello dictator”.
In mid-February, Juncker, who told the federalist European Movement group in 2011 that “When it becomes serious, you have to lie,” rebutted Boris Johnson’s claims that he wanted to build a United States of Europe as “total nonsense”.
But Juncker in his September 2017 state of the union address, he put emphasis on greater, radical EU integration including creating a more powerful EU president by combining the role of the President of the European Commission (Juncker’s role) with that of the head of the European Council (Donald Tusk’s role).
He also zealously proposed a eurozone finance minister, a Brussels-based intelligence agency, an EU anti-terrorism prosecutor, a “fully fledged European Defence Union” by 2025, and an agency to enforce EU labour laws.
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