Jean-Claude Juncker woos MEPs with call to 'be proud of Europe'

Tells Strasbourg sitting that the Juncker commission will be 'highly politicised.

 

By Brian Johnson

Brian Johnson is Managing Editor of The Parliament Magazine

15 Jul 2014

11.02  Finishes by paying tribute to Delors, Mitterrand and Kohl. No hint of concessions to UK.

10.58  Clashes with UKIP members.  Schulz intervenes to tell MEPs not to interrupt.

10.56  "Let's be proud of the single currency.  The single currency doesn't split Europe, it protects it".  (Loud Booing from eurosceptics).  "The euro protects Europe".

10.53  "Let's tell our people that we are proud of Europe. We see tensions on our borders.. let's be proud of our grandfathers who came back from war and said "never again.  We owe it all to them"

10:51  On EU enlargement:  Balkan states need clear "European perspective" or "old demons" could be reawakened.

10.50  "Illegal immigration a problem for the whole of Europe".  Wants better coordination and more solidarity between EU member states.

10:47  "We need a common policy on European asylum".

10:43  Argues that data protection should not be part of EU-US TTIP negotiations. 

10.41  "Free movement is a right" but have to tackle social dumping.

10:40  On European energy union and EU 2030 strategy: Europe cannot attempt to become a world leader on energy without tackling energy efficiency".

10:38  "Troika lacks democratic substance. We need to rethink Troika to make more it democratic".

10:36  On Eurozone crisis: "Like keeping a burning plane in the air.  [But] we did manage to keep the pane in the air."

10:32  On stability and growth pact: "Stability is a lasting decree.  I will not break that promise".

10:31 "Wants a Europe that stands for, "more welfare, more prosperity and more jobs".

10:27  On social market economy:  "I'd like to be the 'president' of social dialogue".  Puts forward plans for "an ambitious programme" aimed at "reindustrialising Europe".

10:24  "Only the blind and deaf would disagree that there is a gap between the EU and it's citizens.  We need to take a broad-based approach on EU reform."

10:22  Juncker "determined to tackle institutional wrangling" and blasts EU member states for agreeing on issues in Brussels, then saying something else when they get home.

10:21 "I will ensure that EU's lobby register becomes public and compulsory.", he adds.

10:20:  "Determined to put forward legislative proposals that will react to parliament's ideas", says Juncker.

10:18 Juncker: "The parliament and commission are two 'community players'...and should work together".

10:15 Jean Claude Juncker will shortly take the floor in Strasbourg to outline to MEPs why he's the right man to take the European commission forward over the next five years.