Funnily enough, the government seems a little less bullish about blocking Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission than it did a fortnight ago.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman was asked about the reports that the die is now cast for Juncker, and whether his appointment could bring forward the UK referendum on the matter. He said:
‘In terms of the referendum, the Prime Minister’s approach for a referendum and the 2017 timetable, that is entirely unchanged, and will not change.’
He added that British officials including this country’s ambassador to the European Union would continue to make the point that ‘the actions of the European Union between now and 2017… can have a very real impact’ and that the European parliamentary elections showed the appetite for change across the bloc. But as for whether European leaders would heed these arguments and deprive Juncker of his dream job, the spokesman sounded a bit less optimistic.
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