Crises beset Juncker's 'last chance' EU
AFP, 30.10.2015
Quotes
A year after Jean-Claude Juncker took charge of what he called the "last chance" European Commission, his plans to win back sceptical voters have been partly sidelined by existential threats like the migrant and Greek crises, analysts say.
The wily former Luxembourg prime minister vowed when he took the reins of the 28-nation EU's executive arm in November 2014 to be more "political" than his Portuguese predecessor, Jose Manuel Barroso.
That meant fewer rules about the shape of cucumbers and other red tape that had given Brussels a bad name, and more dealing with the bigger issues affecting increasingly disillusioned Europeans.
But while the Commission has not been afraid to be proactive, even if it annoys member states, that has failed to translate into wider support for Europe -- as the victory of eurosceptics in Polish elections last weekend shows.
"The final verdict is still out," Janis Emmanouilidis of Brussels-based think-tank the European Policy Centre (EPC) told AFP.
Link to original text here
Latest media contributions
Nawrocki prezydentem. „Osłabienie Donalda Tuska w Brukseli”
Quotes, Deutsche Welle (Polish edition), 02.06.2025
A Test of Times – Permachange through enlargement and EU reform
EPC Policy Briefing, YouTube, 28.05.2025
EPC Update: A new leadership momentum in EUrope?
Online Briefing, YouTube, 23.05.2025
EPC Update: Coalitions of the willing – the way to save EUrope?
Online Briefing, YouTube, 30.04.2025
A Test of Times – Permachange through enlargement and EU reform
Online Briefing, YouTube, 29.04.2025
EPC Update: A world turned upside down: Implications for EUrope's economic & political model
Online Briefing, YouTube, 07.04.2025
EPC Update/Post-summit Briefing: The March EU Summit: Moment of truth for EUrope’s security awakening?
Online Briefing, YouTube, 21.03.2025
EPC Update/Post-summit Briefing: EUrope alone? Supporting Ukraine in a post-transatlantic world
Online Briefing, YouTube, 07.03.2025
EPC Update: What comes after the German elections and the Munich Security Conference?
Online Briefing, YouTube, 27.02.2025
Turning point? Germany’s elections and the future of Europe
Online Briefing, YouTube, 24.02.2025