But the reform plans have attracted the fury of filmmakers and start-up investors who see it as a threat to European innovation and a wrong-headed favour to powerful media groups.
Advertisement
Her aides and ministers have told reporters the government will not offer a “running commentary” on talks her European counterparts say can not begin until Britain triggers the exit.
“Never before have I seen national governments so weakened by the forces of populism and paralysed by the risk of defeat in the next elections”, Mr Juncker said, referring to eurosceptics across Europe drawing inspiration from the British rejection of the EU.
Since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May has said it again and again: “Brexit means Brexit”.
The Lisbon Treaty, said Juncker, enables European Union member states to pool their defense capabilities, if they choose to do so, in the form of a permanent structured cooperation.
Although all European Union member states have their own military forces, and most are members of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and partners with the U.S., Juncker is hoping that a joint European Union force would increase coopration and afford Europe greater security.
Juncker did announce a new push on investment and job creation, extending a plan for a further three years and aiming to generate 630 billion euros ($707 billion) worth of public and private investment by 2022.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker fretted that the U.K.’s separation is only one sign of disagreement that could pull the bloc’s remaining 27 members apart. It included extending the “Juncker plan” for European Union seed capital to bolster investment, a smaller scheme to help African business and so, perhaps, ease migration pressure, and reforms to promote the digital economy.
As well as an increased military role, Juncker also said the European Union will have to step up its diplomatic presence, suggesting the bloc should have a single foreign minister.
UKIP leader and British MEP Nigel Farage once dismissed Van Rompuy, when he was president, as having all “the charisma of a damp rag”.
Nigel Farage, a British politician who campaigned for Britain to leave the European Union, said: “It is clear that no lessons are going to be learned from Brexit”. “It was the usual recipe, more Europe – and in this particular case, more military Europe”.
Juncker’s performance in front of 751 MEPs was closely scrutinised amid speculation he has health concerns, despite strong denials by him and his spokespeople.
Mr Juncker, speaking to the European Parliament yesterday in his annual State of the Union address, tried to rally support for the EU, saying the bloc, battered by Britain’s Brexit referendum, was not about to break up despite its existential crisis. “Tolerance can not come at the price of our security, ” Juncker added.
Advertisement
“There are lots of players, a lack of clarity – we don’t (even) have an agreed process”, said Simon Usherwood, a reader in politics at the University of Surrey.
