Hunt accuses Euro leaders of ‘cowardice’ over supporting Juncker

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has accused European leaders of “cowardice” over backing Jean-Claude Juncker’s appointment as European Commission President.

Mr Hunt has attacked EU premiers for first assuring to join Britain in opposing the arch-federalist’s nomination in private only to then support him publicly.

Mr Hunt has said: Due to EU state heads cowardice, “they’re going to have to work a lot harder to persuade the British people that Europe has a reform agenda.”

The health secretary has also claimed the Britons would be “proud” of the Prime Minister – who is a strong person and that his position would ultimately aid the U.K. renegotiate its relationship with Europe.

Mr Hunt has said: “You’re getting European leaders queuing up to say how much they want Britain to stay in the EU, how they’ll make compromises.

“We want to be a country in control of our own destiny, we want to stop abuses of the welfare system and NHS.

“We’re not going to take part in some grubby face-saving deal where we pretend we’ve got a deal – a feature of the last government. We want substantive reform in Europe.”

The only ally of U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron was Hungary who backed his step of voting against Mr Juncker – whom they view as not the right person to force through EU reform.

Afterwards on Friday, Mr Cameron has admitted of facing a hard task of convincing Britons to vote to remain in the EU when he failed to block the former Luxembourg premier’s nomination for the EU’s top job.

The Prime Minister has said he had taken “some small steps forward” by securing assurances that Britain’s concerns over the closer integration of the EU had been taken into account, but has been heavily criticised for isolating the U.K. from key European decision-makers.

Both Germany and Sweden – who backed Juncker on appointment, have assured Britain to communicate its concerns over the European Union.

German chancellor Angela Merkel has said she was “ready to address British concerns” while Sweden’s prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has expressed his willingness to “walk an extra mile” or any other action favourable in addressing the UK’s concerns over EU.

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