Without the Turkey agreement, tens of thousands of refugees would still be stuck in Greece. The Commission presented proposals for securing Europe's external borders early on, but they languished in the Council for months. As you can see, the Commission isn't asleep. Oftentimes it has to wake up the others.
Jean-Claude JunckerOne can't allow blind loyalty to a friendship to lead one away from acting in the public interest. If Martin [Schulz] were to propose something that was totally absurd, our friendship would not prevent me from doing the opposite.
Jean-Claude JunckerThe use of EU summits to frame political victories or defeats is an annoying habit.
Jean-Claude JunckerI am in favor of the European institutions being led for the next two-and-a-half years as they have been thus far. We need stability.
Jean-Claude JunckerIn 1913 many believed that there would never again be a war in Europe. The great powers of the continent were so closely intertwined economically that the view was widespread that they could no longer afford to have military confrontations.
Jean-Claude JunckerSince populists never miss an opportunity to create a lot of noise about anti-Europe stance. However, the repercussions of the British referendum could quickly put a stop to such crass rabble-rousing, as it should soon become clear that the UK was better off inside the EU - economically, socially and in foreign policy terms.
Jean-Claude Juncker