Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission has urged the EU to stick together after the shock Brexit vote in his annual State of the Union speech. He said there was “respect and regret” for the UK’s decision to leave the EU but that the bloc was not at risk.
However he warned the decision was a warning that the EU faced a battle for survival against mounting nationalism in Europe. He said: “Far too often national interests are brought to the fore. “We shouldn’t misunderstand this – European integration must not bow to the interests of the nation state. Europe cannot become a colourless melting pot.”
He said the next 12 months were vital to unite Europe and that he was “convinced the European way of life is something worth preserving”.
Mr Juncker attempted to define being European by committing to workers rights and saying that the EU could not tolerate workers being beaten up and killed on the streets – referring to the killing of Polish worker Arek Jozwik in Harlow, Essex.
He spoke of how Europeans did not like being snooped on by drones flying over their homes or big companies “stock-piling every mouse-click” and the EU would pursue strong data protection policies.
And he said that the EU should be as robust as the US with China over the steel-dumping that has left thousands out of work.
Mr Juncker has faced calls to resign over Brexit, but insists he tried his hardest to ensure that the UK remained a member state.
The 61-year-old has also endured mounting speculation about his health, but denies anything is wrong.
Ahead of the speech a Commission spokeswoman said Mr Juncker’s speech in Strasbourg will “set a positive agenda for the coming 12 months – backed by concrete proposals”.
Among his policies will be initiatives to encourage the expansion of high-speed broadband and a single market for digital services.
Mr Juncker is also set to announce billions of euros in investment for Africa, in part to try to curb levels of emigration to Europe.
In the days that follow, the 27 remaining European Union leaders will meet at a summit in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava – without the UK at the table.
However, little detail on Brexit is expected to be revealed, as EU officials have long insisted that negotiations can only begin when Prime Minister Theresa May invokes Article 50, which commences the formal two-year countdown to the UK’s departure.
Yesterday, in a letter written to leaders ahead of the summit, EU president Donald Tusk warned “giving new powers to European institutions is not the desired recipe” for tackling challenges in the bloc – perhaps an admission that the long-held dream of an ever-closer union is no longer feasible in this political climate.
Mr Tusk said it would be a “fatal error” to consider Brexit as a UK-only issue, writing: “Today many people, not only in the UK, think that being part of the European Union stands in the way of stability and security.
“People in Europe want to know if the political elites are capable of restoring control over events and processes which overwhelm, disorientate and sometimes terrify them.”
