As the UK prime minister David Cameron gets endlessly repeated airtime to say cognac-swilling Jean-Claude Junker is “not the man for the job”, it looks increasingly likely that the former prime minister of Luxembourg will get the position as the EU summit votes today.
This would set a precedent nonetheless, as previously, the top job in Brussels bureaucracy has only been given with “the unanimous agreement of at least the bigger countries” of the union, writes the BBC – and Britain is still considered one of these.
Thus Cameron’s sense of frustration, which he vows he will “take to a vote” if Juncker is indeed nominated today.
Discussing the issue in the German Parliament earlier this week, German chancellor Angela Merkel claimed there would be “no drama” if Juncker was chosen by a “qualified majority”, and David Cameron has been seen as being increasingly isolated.
Nonetheless, the British PM maintains Juncker “has been at the heart of the project to increase the power of Brussels and reduce the power of nation states for his entire life”.
“I am very clear about the right thing to do,” he told journalists. “I know the odds are stacked against me, but that doesn’t mean you change your mind, it means you stand up for what you believe and vote accordingly.”
As Cameron set out on his lone mission to Brussels this morning, newspapers in Britain focused on Juncker’s alleged penchant for cognac at breakfast time.
The Daily Telegraph wrote: “Senior EU diplomats are alleged to have previously raised concerns about Jean-Claude Juncker’s drinking habits at high level meetings, with one source claiming that he ‘has cognac for breakfast’.”
One Brussels official told the Daily Telegraph: “His alcohol consumption has been raised by a number of leaders since the parliament election.”
There have been unsubstantiated stories about him apparently drinking at Eurogroup meetings when he was President, which have led some to raise doubts about his ability to effectively manage the impending “much larger role”.
Nonetheless, there appear to be no other ‘strong’ contenders for the job. A few months ago, the race was said to be between Juncker and German politician Martin Schulz – but recently Schulz nomination has dropped in popularity.
