“When you travel in Europe with your mobile phone, you will be able to feel at home anywhere in Europe thanks to these new roaming rules”, Juncker told the European Parliament in Strasbourg. “There are splits out there and often fragmentation where we need further union, that is leaving space for galloping populism”.
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Any substantive negotiations regarding how the United Kingdom should leave the European Union are not likely to take place at least for another year, said the former president of the European Council.
Leaders of the 27 European Union countries will begin to gather on Thursday in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava to discuss the future of the bloc.
Junker added that the European Union both respects and regrets the country’s decision to formally leave the union and reaffirmed that the union itself “is not at risk”.
The 61-year-old former Luxembourg prime minister called for ties to “remain on a friendly basis” but warned London could not expect “a la carte” access to the EU’s single market if it brings back immigration controls.
Juncker gave the example of the murder of a Polish man in Harlow, Essex last month to show what could happen if Europe does not unite.
Mr Juncker is aiming to rally the 27 countries staying in the European Union to the challenges of migration and security.
“We have to have our own common defense force, which will work in partnership with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation”.
Juncker gave no further details although it is expected that any such European Union military headquarters would also be based in Brussels, home to all its major institutions. “As for the initiative announced by Juncker, it is an attempt to reinforce federalist Europe, and nowadays people in Europe don’t want it, so it is not a welcome initiative”, he said.
However, Brexit champion and former Ukip leader Nigel Farage slammed Juncker’s proposals.
He declared: “Indeed it was the usual recipe for more Europe and in this particular case of course more military Europe”. As Europe’s biggest-spending European power, the British exit could reduce the EU’s military capacity by a quarter without steps to remedy the situation, analysts say.
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Juncker’s performance in front of 751 MEPs was meanwhile closely scrutinized amid speculation he has health concerns, despite strong denials by him and his spokespeople. It was Britain that has pushed in recent years for a capital market union, a review of the EU’s many burdensome regulations and for the signing of more trade deals.
