I won't get on my knees to Britan!

 

The frontrunner for the presidency of the European Commission says he will not ‘get on his knees’ to Britain to secure the post, it was reported last night.


In a bitter attack on the UK, Jean-Claude Juncker also condemned what he described as a British campaign against  his presidency. 

The former Luxembourg prime minister’s bid for the top Brussels job has been strongly criticised by David Cameron, who warned that the UK could quit the EU if Mr Juncker was to succeed because he is an arch federalist.

Mr Cameron has privately branded Mr Juncker a ‘face from the 1980s’ who ‘cannot solve the problems of the next five years’.

According to The Guardian, Mr Juncker told a closed meeting of the European People’s Party in the parliament in Brussels yesterday: ‘It is wrong if we give in to the British.

'I will not be forced to get on my knees before the British. What bothers me is the gathering British press campaign.’

Mr Cameron, emerging from a bruising round of talks aimed at preventing Mr Juncker from seizing power, warned last night that Britain will ‘drift towards the exit’ of Europe unless Brussels agrees major reforms. 

He said Europe could not stick ‘its head in the sand’ and ignore the growing tide of Euroscepticism.

His intervention came as Barack Obama issued his strongest plea yet for Britain to remain in Europe – and for Brussels to make the compromises needed to keep the EU together.

 

Speaking at a joint press conference following the G7 Summit in Brussels, the US President said it was ‘hard to imagine’ the EU prospering if Britain left. 

But he also made it plain the value placed by the US on its old ally retaining a seat at Europe’s top table.

He said: ‘With respect to the EU, we share a strategic vision with Great Britain on a whole range of international issues, so it’s always encouraging for us to know that Great Britain has a seat at the table in the larger European project.’

But he added: ‘It’s hard for me to imagine it would be advantageous for GB to be excluded from political decisions that have an enormous impact on its economic and political life.’ 

Mr Cameron has spent the past fortnight fighting a rearguard action to prevent Mr Juncker’s coronation as president of the European Commission.

The Prime Minister clashed with German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the issue during heated talks in Brussels in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Aides described the face-to-face meeting at the British ambassador’s residence as ‘candid’ – diplomatic-speak for a bust-up – but insisted the overall tone had been ‘friendly  and constructive’. 

Mr Cameron said Europe’s leaders had to listen to voters who backed Eurosceptic parties in record numbers last month.