EU populist parties call on Juncker to go

24/11/2014

By Peter Spiegel

Three of Europe’s largest populist parties have called on Jean-Claude Juncker to resign as president of the European Commission, saying his credibility had been irreparably damaged by revelations that hundreds of multinationals escaped big tax bills in Luxembourg while he was prime minister.

The demand – made by the UK Independence party, France’s National Front and Italy’s Five Star Movement – came during a Monday evening debate in the European Parliament on a motion to force Mr Juncker to stand down.

The move is almost certain to fail in a vote later this week. But while few other political parties said they would support the motion, several more mainstream groups expressed deep concerns about Mr Juncker’s tax record as prime minister and warned it could overshadow his tenure in Brussels.

“There is such a thing as the Juncker problem,” said Ryszard Legutko, a member of both Poland’s centre-right Law and Justice party and of the same Brussels political group as David Cameron’s Conservatives, the third-largest in parliament. “Pardon the expression, but I didn’t have the feeling that you had any pangs of conscious at all. It’s a rare thing in politicians, but sometimes it’s quite possible.”

The leaders of the Greens and the far-left United Left party, the fifth and sixth largest groups in the parliament, also voiced their criticism.

The highlight of this week’s parliamentary session was supposed to be Mr Juncker’s forthcoming €315bn plan to revive Europe’s economy. But Monday’s debate was the first example of anti-Brussels populist parties, which made unprecedented gains in May’s elections, shaking up the inner workings of the EU.

It also showed that support for Mr Juncker may be shallower than the overwhelming support for his candidacy from EU leaders and MEPs earlier this year might suggest. Even the Liberals and Socialists have added to the pressure on Mr Juncker, saying they will keep an eye on the commission’s ongoing investigations into unfair corporate tax rulings.

Mr Juncker, who attended the debate with all 27 other members of the European Commission, insisted the issue of tax avoidance was not only an issue for Luxembourg. He argued other EU countries have similar procedures. He vowed to introduce new EU legislation that would close loopholes and disclose the shadowy tax rulings that have become the focus of criticism in Luxembourg.

“They must realise that I’m not a friend of big capital,” Mr Juncker said during the debate. “I think there was much laughter in the higher echelons of the multinational companies when that allegation was made.”

Marco Zanni, a member of Italian satirist Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement, said that Mr Juncker’s tenure as chairman of the group of eurozone finance ministers during the worst of the debt crisis should disqualify him for his current post, arguing Luxembourg was improperly gaining at the expense of other EU countries.

“Instead of helping Greece, you were actually stealing millions from the coffers of the inland revenues of all the member states in order to put it into the hands of the multinationals,” Mr Zanni argued. “If you had a crumb of dignity you would resign. You don’t deserve to represent the Europeans.”

Although both the Liberal and Socialist groups – the traditional mainstream partners of Mr Juncker’s centre-right Christian Democrats – raised questions about Mr Juncker’s record in Luxembourg, both belittled the sponsors of the motion, calling it a political stunt.

Gianni Pitella, the Italian Democrat who heads the Socialist group, warned that passing the motion, which would require the entire commission to resign, would plunge the EU into chaos and scupper Mr Juncker’s €315bn investment plan.

“We would be cancelling the last chance for Europe to create jobs and combat the crisis,” argued Mr Pitella. “It would take months to create a new college of commissioners. In the mean time, the economy, European society would be collapsing because there would be no response from us.”

Marine Le Pen, head of the National Front, said it was not credible for Mr Juncker to claim he would implement new rules to clean up tax avoidance in Europe.

“Everyone’s laughing in Luxembourg, all the way to the bank,” Ms Le Pen said. “Nobody can really believe you’re going to work hard and loyally to undo what you yourself created in the past. It would be as credible as appointing Al Capone to head a security and ethics committee.”

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