President Jean-Claude Juncker of the European Commission has more or less expressed regret over the whole Brexit affair. In a speech to the European Parliament, Juncker, in what may have been his last address, said that handling Brexit was “wasted time and wasted energy.”
Juncker reported from the recent EU heads of government summit in Strasbourg. That summit failed to reach an agreement on a new multiannual budget, did not decide on the accession of new EU countries, and also could not present a new EU Commission.
Juncker is normally set to step down as Commission president at the end of this month. But because the European Parliament blocked the candidacies of three commissioner nominees, Ursula von der Leyen’s new Commission cannot yet start work. Therefore, Juncker must remain in office a little longer.
Since the next plenary session is not scheduled until the end of November, he possibly made his final appearance in Parliament on Tuesday in Strasbourg. For this reason, most faction leaders reflected on the achievements of ‘five years of Juncker.’
On Brexit, Juncker said the EU continues to do everything possible to enable an orderly departure of the British. The European Parliament already decided on Monday to ratify the agreement only after the UK Parliament has done so. “First London, then Brussels and Strasbourg,” Juncker said to applause from the MEPs.
European Council President Donald Tusk, who, like Juncker, is at the end of his term, confirmed that the situation in the House of Commons has become “quite complex.” Tusk reiterated what he told Boris Johnson again last weekend: “A ‘no deal’ Brexit will never be our choice.”