Jean-Claude Juncker officially closes on 1st November as head of the European Commission, then his successor Ursula von der Leyen takes over the business, if she has her leadership team together. However, the Luxembourger said goodbye to the Members of the European Parliament with an emotional speech.
"I'm leaving the office not sad, not too happy, but in the feeling, honestly endeavored," said the 64-year-old. "I've been proud to be a small particle of a larger whole for a long time, and especially for the past five years, more important than us."
Juncker recalled that, above all else, the European Union is a peace project: "Peace is not self-evident and we should be proud that Europe is getting peace." You also have to talk about this with young people. He gave his successors the way: "Fight with all your might the stupid nationalism." Juncker ended his speech with the words: "Long live Europe!"
The former Luxembourg head of government switched to Brussels in 2014. His term of office includes a number of crises, including the euro debt crisis, which almost led Greece to leave Greece in 2015, and the refugee crisis in 2015. The biggest setback was the Brexit decision in the UK in 2016, which has since been almost non-stop ( see his most bizarre performances in this video).
REUTERS
In his speech, Juncker referred above all to the successes of the investment program he initiated in 2014, the so-called Juncker Plan. The investments thus secured would have created 1.1 million additional jobs and increased the economy in the European Union by 0.9 percent more than without the plan. Although this was not a panacea, but you can be proud of it. In total, a € 21 billion fund was mobilized to attract € 439.4 billion, according to the European Commission.
Criticism of SPD European politicians
The SPD European politician Jens Geier expressed disappointment about the social policy of Juncker. "The promise of giving the EU a social triple A has been broken by the departing President of the European Commission", criticized the head of the SPD MEPs in the European Parliament. "The Juncker Commission lacked the vision to protect people from dumping competition and unemployment, even in crises."
However, Geier praised some of Juncker's projects, including the abolition of roaming charges, the European Investment Fund or the revision of the Posting of Workers Directive. This would better protect workers from exploitation, even on construction sites and slaughterhouses in Germany. Good were also the new ambitious limits for the emission of greenhouse gases in new cars.
