Nick Gutteridge – The EU Commission chief insisted any dreams some politicians may have of a United States of Europe are dead and buried amid voter apathy about the project and growing divisions amongst its member states on migration, Brexit and trade.

He admitted that he was once a federalist himself, but said he now appreciated that ordinary Europeans will not accept the imposition of a superstate by the back door and that Brussels must allow national governments a greater say on Europe-wide policy.

Mr Juncker’s remarks came after he launched an historic white paper on how to save the struggling project yesterday, which unusually consisted of a massive consultation exercise on five “pathways” for the future.
Unlike in previous years the Commission and its chief have flatly refused to express a preference for how they want the EU to move forward, save to say that they do not believe a return to a simple trading alliance would be the right course of action.

Eurocrats, who are unelected, have been stung by a fall in voter support for the bloc and repeated accusations that this has been caused by a dictatorial approach of loftily handing down decrees without consulting citizens.But some MEPs have criticised the plan saying that eurocrats should have taken a strong stance on the issue and simply handed down a solution, prompting an exasperated Mr Juncker to berate them and demand: “Sh*t, what do you want us to do?”

The Brussels boss addressed the criticism further today during a visit to one of the club’s newest members, Slovenia, where he discussed the future of the EU, migration and Brexit with prime minister Miro Cerar.  – continue reading . . .

SF Source Blacklisted News March 2017