Jean-Claude Juncker
Jean-Claude Juncker
Jean-Claude Junckeris a Luxembourgish politician who has been President of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, since 2014. Previously Juncker was Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013, as well as Minister for Finances from 1989 to 2009. He was the longest-serving head of any national government in the EU, and one of the longest-serving democratically elected leaders in the world, by the time he left office, his tenure encompassing the height of the European...
NationalityLuxembourger
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth9 December 1954
Jean-Claude Juncker quotes about
The European family may well be anything but perfect.
Stories are invented: Juncker wants to introduce the euro everywhere or immediately deepen the EU - although I publicly stated the opposite that same day.
For my generation, the monetary union has always been about forging peace.
Anyone who believes that the eternal question of war and peace in Europe is no longer there risks being deeply mistaken.
There is a proposal to divide the currency zone into a north and a south euro. There is also the idea of setting up a core monetary union in the middle of Europe. I disapprove of these debates. Instead, we should devote all of our efforts to supplementing the monetary union with a political union.
We do not attract Russian money to Luxembourg with high interest rates.
In 1913 many believed that there would never again be a war in Europe. The great powers of the continent were so closely intertwined economically that the view was widespread that they could no longer afford to have military confrontations.
There is a distorted perception of what goes on in Brussels. No one reports on the Commission taking a hundred initiatives from its predecessor off the table in order to shift competencies back to member state governments.
How will the exit affect thousands of British pensioners living in Portugal or Spain who will lose their access to the welfare and health systems? Fifty-three free-trade agreements, which were negotiated by the EU on behalf of all Member States, are also hanging in the balance for the UK.
I am chilled by the realization of how similar circumstances in Europe in 2013 are to those of 100 years ago.
My main concern is to protect people from detriment.
The way some German politicians have lashed out at Greece when the country fell into the crisis has left deep wounds there. I was just as shocked by the banners of protesters in Athens that showed the German chancellor in a Nazi uniform.
You can't have euro bonds without more interconnection among the national budget policies.
The person who is ahead in the end will have the advantage.