Defiant EU stands by under-fire boss Juncker and says his US break up remarks are ‘VALID’
BRUSSELS today tried to calm the raging storm over Jean-Claude Juncker’s perceived threat to support the break up of the US as eurocrats insisted the remarks were not meant to be taken literally.
By NICK GUTTERIDGE, BRUSSELS CORRESPONDENT
Express.co.uk
Fri, Mar 31, 2017
The EU Commission said its boss did not back the secession of states like Texas and Ohio despite his controversial comments in a speech yesterday, which caused diplomatic shockwaves on both sides of the Atlantic.
However, a spokesman also insisted that the Brussels chief was not joking when he made the remarks and said they were designed to articulate serious concerns about Donald Trump’s eurosceptic stance.
The Republican has previously enraged EU officials by describing Brexit as a “great thing” for the UK and has hinted that other countries could also profit from following Britain’s lead and quitting the project.
And Mr Juncker’s controversial remarks, made during a speech in Malta, appeared to be in response to a recent statement by White House press secretary Sean Spicer that Mr Trump was “a leader in the effort to call for Brexit”.
Addressing the annual conference of his centre-right European People’s Party in Valetta yesterday, the EU boss remarked with a serious delivery that he could retaliate by asdvocating the break up of the US.
He said: “Brexit isn’t the end. A lot of people would like it that way, even people on another continent where the newly elected US President was happy that the Brexit was taking place and has asked other countries to do the same.
“If he goes on like that I am going to promote the independence of Ohio and Austin, Texas in the US.”
The remarks provoked a storm both in Europe and the US, with former Ukip leader and close friend of Mr Trump, Nigel Farage, saying the EU Commission boss was a “fool” for drawing such a comparison.
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