Wednesday

6th Dec 2023

Juncker envisages EU of core groups

  • Juncker: "This is no longer a time when we can imagine everyone doing the same thing together" (Photo: consilium.europa.eu)

European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker has said that EU states which wanted deeper integration should press ahead in core groups in reaction to the UK’s departure.

“We can do many things together, but this is no longer a time when we can imagine everyone doing the same thing together," he said at a speech in the Louvain-la-Neuve university in Belgium on Thursday (23 February).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

“We have to come up with an answer to this historical question, which is to ask ourselves: 'Do we want to move ahead as 28 - we’ve already lost the 28th [the UK] - or should it not be that those who want to go forward more rapidly can do so without bothering the others by putting in place a more structured framework that is open to everyone?'”, he said.

Referring to a commission policy paper on the issue due out this month, he added: "I will argue for this in the coming days."

He did not specify in which areas he would like to see core-group integration, but his speech praised the single currency, which comprises 19 out of the 28 EU states.

It also said the EU should press ahead with military cooperation, referring to French and German ideas that were to use an EU treaty clause on “structured permanent cooperation” between a coalition of willing countries.

Speaking to the Bloomberg news agency the same day, Austrian chancellor Christian Kern said the Brexit talks, due to start in March, were about bigger issues than just future UK relations.

“Brexit is not only about the relation to Great Britain, it’s about the role and unity of Europe itself and so therefore it’s really a very sensitive negotiation procedure,” he said.

He predicted the talks would be “not as easy as the British expect” and would cause “frustration” among Leave advocates who had expected a “free lunch”.

He said Britain would face a bill of “around €60 billion” on its EU budgetary commitments and warned against the UK trying to turn itself into a tax haven to compete with Europe.

“If they start to reduce their corporate taxes to an unreasonable level, then there will be a certain reaction,” he said.

"They need access to the European market and so they have to behave in a decent and reasonable manner,” the Austrian leader said.

Juncker attacks US on Nato spending

The commission head says the US should count EU development spending as a form of security, in a direct challenge to US comments on Nato.

UK turns from EU to US in 'new age'

British PM to tell US that the two countries should upgrade their “special relationship” amid plans for early talks on a post-EU trade pact.

Maltese PM hails pope, calls for multispeed EU

Malta's prime minister Joseph Muscat said that Pope Francis has "the skills and vision" to inspire the EU and that some EU countries should integrate more to be able to act.

Opinion

Tusk's difficult in-tray on Poland's judicial independence

What is obvious is that PiS put in place a set of interlocking safeguards for itself which, even after their political defeat in Poland, will render it very difficult for the new government to restore the rule of law.

Opinion

Can Green Deal survive the 2024 European election?

Six months ahead of the EU elections, knocking an 'elitist' climate agenda is looking like a vote-winner to some. Saving the Green Deal and the EU's climate ambitions starts with listening to Europeans who are struggling to make ends meet.

Latest News

  1. Crunch talks seek breakthrough on EU asylum overhaul
  2. Polish truck protest at Ukraine border disrupts war supplies
  3. 'Green' banks lend most to polluters, reveals ECB
  4. Tense EU-China summit showdown unlikely to bear fruit
  5. A look to the past and the future of China-EU relations
  6. Tusk's difficult in-tray on Poland's judicial independence
  7. EU nears deal to fingerprint six year-old asylum seekers
  8. Orbán's Ukraine-veto threat escalates ahead of EU summit

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us