(B2) Six months before his departure, the current President of the European Commission admitted on Tuesday (May 7) two major “errors” during his term of office. A mea culpa late
Jean-Claude Juncker was in front of the press to present the results of his five years in office and his proposals for the Sibiu summit (Credit: European Commission)
The late reaction to the Luxleaks: a “serious mistake”
On the tax evasion mechanisms revealed by the Luxleaks in 2014, "jI waited too long before reacting, it was a big mistake. It took me two weeks to react. I should have done it at once “, recognizes the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg. NB: at the time, the European Commission had denied any problem, preferring not to communicate on the subject (read: Luxleaks! A great opportunity to act… a little wasted).
Brexit: a guilty silence
« My second mistake was to listen to the British government, to listen to Mr Cameron (1) who asked me not to intervene in the Brexit campaign. CIt was a mistake not to intervene and interfere in the referendum campaign. We would have been the only ones able to dismantle all the lies circulating at the time. » For the President of the European Executive, " staying silent at such an important time was a mistake "...
Elections: concern
Despite a genuine optimism, Jean-Claude Juncker did not, however, hide his concern less than three weeks before the European elections. " Everyone must go vote! [...] If everyone votes for the extremes, what will tomorrow's Europe look like? »
(Leonor Hubaut)
(1) David Cameron was then the British Conservative Prime Minister
One thought on “Brexit, Luxleak: the mea culpa of Jean-Claude Juncker"
Mr. Juncker seems to have made a specialty of apologizing for various reasons. According to a PRI article of February 19, 2010 (1), after the revelation of the maneuvers aimed at concealing part of the liabilities of the Greek State, Mr. Juncker already presented them to the whole world ("I'd like to apologize to the world at large”) for failing to prevent a bad decision. He alluded to the fact that in 2005 the Eurogroup which he chaired had refused to give Eurostat, the statistical body of the European Union, the power to audit and investigate the public finances of the Member States, which which would have enabled this organization to establish the extent of the cover-ups, to report them to its agents, and would have prevented the rating agencies from pretending to believe the misleading information concocted by the Greek administration. Frankly, in view of the billions engulfed by the public finances of all the Member States in order to absorb the Greek payment default which does not say its name, it is not expensive to pay to present some apologies.
(1): Article “Greece: The Brussels blame game begins”, PRI, 19 February 2010.
Mr. Juncker seems to have made a specialty of apologizing for various reasons. According to a PRI article of February 19, 2010 (1), after the revelation of the maneuvers aimed at concealing part of the liabilities of the Greek State, Mr. Juncker already presented them to the whole world ("I'd like to apologize to the world at large”) for failing to prevent a bad decision. He alluded to the fact that in 2005 the Eurogroup which he chaired had refused to give Eurostat, the statistical body of the European Union, the power to audit and investigate the public finances of the Member States, which which would have enabled this organization to establish the extent of the cover-ups, to report them to its agents, and would have prevented the rating agencies from pretending to believe the misleading information concocted by the Greek administration. Frankly, in view of the billions engulfed by the public finances of all the Member States in order to absorb the Greek payment default which does not say its name, it is not expensive to pay to present some apologies.
(1): Article “Greece: The Brussels blame game begins”, PRI, 19 February 2010.