September 15th, 2017
A conservative commentator condemns the sweeping institutional reforms proposed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in his State of the Union address to the European Parliament, as an ‘expression of the will of Brussels bureaucrats to rule over member states.’
In his review of the Juncker reform package in Magyar Idők, János Csontos doesn’t find one single element among the suggested institutional changes that he could approve of. Putting the Commissioner for Financial affairs at the head of the Euro-zone would amount to Commission rule over the member states, he writes. To vote for European party lists would mean that people who support PM Orbán of Hungary, must also support MS Merkel and Mr Juncker as members of the European People’s Party. Csontos also repudiates the kind of solidarity Mr Juncker outlined, as it adds up to the imposition of a multiethnic society on those member states which don’t intend to build one. And finally, merging the posts of Commission President and President of the European Council would put an end to control by member states over the Brussels apparatus. Especially as Mr Juncker intends to broaden the scope of important issues, with foreign policy to start with, where no unanimity is required to take a decision. “Someone who struggles with the challenge of legitimacy,’ Csontos concludes, ‘should not engage in far reaching reforms’.
Tags: EU, Juncker