Earlier today I Tweeted IMF Changes Tune On Brexit: Prior Fearmongering Suddenly a “Better Opportunity for Reform”.
In my article, I suggested if the EU wants to reform, it could start by getting rid of Jean-Claude Juncker.
After doing so, I scanned Tweets of those I follow.
I was surprised to discover a Tweet of this Telegraph headline: Angela Merkel ‘to oust Jean-Claude Juncker’ as Europe splits deepen over Brexit response.
The German chancellor’s frustration with the European Commission chief came as Europe split over whether to use the Brexit negotiations as a trigger to deepen European integration or take a more pragmatic approach to Britain as it heads for the exit door.
“The pressure on him [Juncker] to resign will only become greater and Chancellor Merkel will eventually have to deal with this next year,” an unnamed German minister told The Sunday Times, adding that Berlin had been furious with Mr Juncker “gloating” over the UK referendum result.
Mr Juncker’s constant and unabashed calls for “more Europe”, has led to several of Europe other dissenting members – including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic – to lay some of the blame for Brexit at his door.
Even before he was appointed President of the European Commission – against the wishes of David Cameron – concerns were raised about Mr Juncker’s alchohol consumption which were dismissed as a “smear campaign” by his officials.
At the time The Telegraph and several other newspapers reported officials worrying about Mr Juncker having “cognac for breakfast” and rolling through long negotiations fortified with large quantities of claret and brandy.
A week before the UK referendum vote a video emerged of an apparently-drunk Mr Juncker taken at a May 2015 EU summit welcoming Viktor Orban, the hardline Hungarian prime minister, as “the dictator” before giving him a playful slap on the cheek.
Since the June 23 vote both the Czech and Polish foreign ministers have called publicly for Mr Juncker to resign – moves that one senior EU official dismissed last week as “predictable”. However, the rumblings from Berlin now represent a much more serious threat to Mr Juncker’s tenure.
The split also offers a glimmer of hope for British negotiators who are preparing for fractious EU-UK divorce talks and are desperate to avoid a repeat of February’s failed negotiations which – controlled as they were by Mr Juncker and the Commission – left David Cameron without enough ‘wins’ to avoid Brexit.
Mrs Merkel’s anger reflects a growing schism in Europe between those, like Mr Juncker and the French and Belgian leaders, who want to see “more Europe” after Brexit, and those, like Mrs Merkel and her powerful finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble who believe that would be “crazy”.
Prior to the Brexit vote senior European Commission officials were privately jubilant about the opportunity that a British ‘leave’ vote would present to complete the European project, sucking reluctant countries like Poland into the Euro “within five years”.
Drunk Juncker
Drunken Juncker Video
If the clip does not play you can catch it at ‘Drunk’ EU Chief Junker Face Slaps World Leaders at Summit in Resurfaced Viral Video.
It’s widely known that Juncker is a drunk liar. He confessed to being a liar himself.
Other than being a pompous buffoon, Jean-Claude Juncker is most famous for his statement “When it becomes serious, you have to lie“.
Apparently, even Chancellor Merkel has had enough of this drunken clown.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
