Jean-Claude Juncker Quotes

Jean-Claude Juncker is a Luxembourgish politician serving as President of the European Commission since 2014. From 1995 to 2013 he served as the 23rd Prime Minister of Luxembourg; from 1989 to 2009 he was also Minister for Finances.

By the time he left office, he was the longest-serving head of any national government in the EU, and one of the longest-serving democratically elected leaders in the world, his tenure encompassing the height of the European financial and sovereign debt crisis. From 2005 to 2013, Juncker served as the first permanent President of the Eurogroup.

In 2014, the European People's Party had Juncker as its lead candidate, or Spitzenkandidat, for the Presidency of the Commission in the 2014 elections. This marked the first time that the Spitzenkandidat process was employed. Juncker is the first President that prior to the election has campaigned as a candidate for the position, a process introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon. The EPP won 220 out of 751 seats in the Parliament. On 27 June 2014, the European Council officially nominated Juncker for the position, and on 15 July 2014, the European Parliament elected him with a majority of 422 votes from a total of 729 cast. He succeeded José Manuel Barroso as President on 1 November 2014. Juncker stated that his priorities would be the creation of a digital single market, the development of an EU Energy Union, the negotiation of the Transatlantic Trade Agreement, the continued reform of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union—with the social dimension in mind—and a "targeted fiscal capacity" for the Eurozone, as well as to negotiate a new deal with Britain. During his leadership, the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016.

✵ 9. December 1954
Jean-Claude Juncker photo
Jean-Claude Juncker: 14   quotes 6   likes

Famous Jean-Claude Juncker Quotes

“We decide on something, leave it lying around and wait and see what happens. If no one kicks up a fuss, because most people don't understand what has been decided, we continue step by step until there is no turning back.”

referring to his colleagues in the European Council
Jean-Claude Juncker, quoted by Dirk Von Kock 'Die Brüsseler Republik' http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-15317086.html in Der Spiegel (2000), then by Florian Eder 'Junckers Tricks in den langen Brüsseler Nächten' http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article112948572/Junckers-Tricks-in-den-langen-Bruesseler-Naechten.html in Die Welt (2012).
1999

“We all know what to do, we just don’t know how to get re-elected after we’ve done it.”

When talking about economic reforms. http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/publication_summary12588_en.htm&ved=0ahUKEwiBxefUmpXRAhVJjywKHZEnBBIQFggaMAA&usg=AFQjCNGP2YiE7cKXtbR9DsI71bR6q0OkGw (page 4 of the report).
2007

“Borders are the worst invention ever made by politicians.”

To the European Forum Alpbach. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/national-borders-are-the-worst-invention-ever-says-ec-chief-jean-claude-juncker-a7204006.html (22 August 2016)
2016

“We feel we need a Capital Market Union, Energy Union, Economic and Monetary Union but we also think we need security union”

After the 2016 Brussels bombings. http://www.politico.eu/article/jean-claude-juncker-eu-needs-a-security-union-brussels-attacks/ (23 March, 2016)
2016

“I am astonished at those who are afraid of the people: one can always explain that what is in the interest of Europe is in the interests of our countries."
"Britain is different. Of course there will be transfers of sovereignty. But would I be intelligent to draw the attention of public opinion to this fact?"
"There is a single legal personality for the EU, the primacy of European law, a new architecture for foreign and security policy, there is an enormous extension in the fields of the EU's powers, there is Charter of Fundamental Rights.”

On the Lisbon Treaty, Le Soir L'invité du lundi Jean-Claude Juncker : « Succès objectif, déception atmosphérique », 2 July 2007, Le Soir, 2 July 2007, page 18 Bruno Waterfield, Brendan Carlin: 'Don't tell British about the EU treaty' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/03/weu103.xml, Telegraph, 3 July 2007.
2007

“The constitutional treaty was an easily understandable treaty. This is a simplified treaty which is very complicated."
On the Lisbon Treaty, 23 June 2007”

http://www.nzz.ch/2007/06/24/eng/article7955045.html, EU leaders hammer out treaty deal, Swissinfo / NZZ, 24 June 2007, 2007-06-26
2007

Jean-Claude Juncker Quotes

“I was going to say he's a piece of work, but that might not translate too well. Is that all right, if I call you a 'piece of work?”

George W. Bush, June 20 2005
EuropeanVoice http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/juncker-is-a-piece-of-work-but-is-that-good-/52663.aspx.

“I have a lot of understanding for people skeptical about the EU. Because there are legitimate questions to the address about the European Union, including the Commission. You have to answer that. You have to talk to the Eurosceptic people. By the way, sometimes I am myself, I am not free from Euroscepticism sometimes. But I am not on the way to fundamental opposition.”

Interview with Thomas Mayer in Der Standard, 6 October 2018
2018
Source: Mayer, Thomas (6 October, 2018). Commission President Juncker: "I am not free from euroscepticism" https://derstandard.at/2000088766841/EU-Kommissionspraesident-Juncker-Ich-bin-nicht-frei-von-Euroskepsis. Der Standard.

“There can be no democratic choice against the European treaties, one cannot exit the euro without leaving the EU.”

Originial quote in french: Il ne peut y avoir de choix démocratique contre les traités européens, on ne peut pas sortir de l'euro sans sortir de l'Union européenne.
Jean-Claude Juncker, 'Greece: The dangerous game' http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31082656 (1 February 2015), from a french newspaper Le Figaro Jean-Claude Juncker : «Pas question de supprimer la dette grecque» http://www.lefigaro.fr/conjoncture/2015/01/28/20002-20150128ARTFIG00441-jean-claude-juncker-pas-question-de-supprimer-la-dette-grecque.php https://miscellanees01.wordpress.com/2016/04/16/il-ne-peut-y-avoir-de-choix-democratique-contre-les-traites-europeens/ (28 January 2015)
2015

“If it's a Yes, we will say 'on we go', and if it's a No we will say 'we continue.”

On the 2005 French referendum on the Lisbon Treaty
quoted in [Rennie, David, Keep up the pressure for a No vote, Left warned, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/1490810/Keep-up-the-pressure-for-a-No-vote-Left-warned.html, 29 June 2011, The Telegraph (UK), 26 May 2005]
2005

“Monetary policy is a serious issue. We should discuss this in secret, in the Eurogroup […] I'm ready to be insulted as being insufficiently democratic, but I want to be serious […] I am for secret, dark debates.”

Jean-Claude Juncker, 20 April 2011, quoted in " Eurogroup chief: 'I'm for secret, dark debates' http://euobserver.com/9/32222", EUobserver, 21 April 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
2011

“Thank you, have a nice day. I will now see the president of Azerbaijan, so the nice part of the day is over.”

To reporters at a European Union conference http://reuters.com/article/idUSKBN15L21P (6 February 2017)
2017

“I am determined, as is the Government, to do everything to preserve everything that we have worked for and that we believe in … by using all necessary means to fend off the hostile”

bid
On the bids on Arcelor by Mittal, 5 February 5, 2006 What they said about the Arcelor bid"; Business Times, Malaysia
2006

“I don't think Spain will need any kind of external support.”

Jean-Claude Juncker, 17 April 2012. Eurogroup chief: Not if, but when for Spanish bailout, experts believe http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCABRE83H07620120418?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0, Reuters, 18 April 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
2012

Similar authors

Les Brown photo
Les Brown 24
American politician
Pietro Mennea photo
Pietro Mennea 1
Italian sprinter and politician
Bertil Ohlin photo
Bertil Ohlin 11
Swedish economist and politician
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva photo
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva 10
Brazilian politician, 35th president of Brazil
Salvador Allende photo
Salvador Allende 16
Chilean physician and politician
Margaret Thatcher photo
Margaret Thatcher 348
British stateswoman and politician
Arnold Schwarzenegger photo
Arnold Schwarzenegger 52
actor, businessman and politician of Austrian-American heri…
Antonio Gramsci photo
Antonio Gramsci 22
Italian writer, politician, theorist, sociologist and lingu…
Mario Vargas Llosa photo
Mario Vargas Llosa 30
Peruvian writer, politician, journalist, and essayist
Vladimir Lenin photo
Vladimir Lenin 336
Russian politician, led the October Revolution