Cameron warns EU not to back Juncker

British Prime Minister David Cameron has warned he would no longer be able to guarantee that Britain would remain a member of the European Union if European leaders elect Jean-Claude Juncker as European Commission chief, Germany’s Spiegel said.

The European Commission president is selected by EU leaders but must be approved by the assembly. The European People’s Party, which won the most seats in the vote, had chosen Luxembourg’s ex-premier Juncker as their candidate.

In a pre-publication copy of an article, Spiegel said Cameron had explained, on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels tomorrow, that if Juncker became Commission president, he would no longer be able to ensure Britain’s continued EU membership.

The magazine said participants understood Cameron’s comments on the sidelines of the meeting to mean that a majority vote for Juncker could destabilise his government to the extent that an “in-out” referendum would have to be brought forward.

That in turn, they understood, would most likely lead to the British people voting to quit the EU.

Juncker has called on the majority of leaders not to bow to pressure from the minority in their decision. “Europe must not allow itself to be blackmailed,” Juncker said, adding that a broad majority of Christian Democratic and socialist leaders in the European Council backed him.

He said he was in favour of getting “all of the other heads of government on board too”, and offered to hold talks on priorities for the next Commission.

Spiegel said Cameron, who regards Juncker as too federalist and likely to damage his hopes of reforming Britain’s EU ties, dismissed the candidate during a recess with the words: “A face from the 80s can’t solve the problems of the next five years.”

Cameron has promised to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s EU membership and if his Conservatives win a 2015 national election to hold a referendum by the end of 2017.

Bild am Sonntag, which did not name its sources, said French President François Hollande was also trying to prevent Juncker from getting the job and had suggested his former finance minister, Pierre Moscovici.

“Given that the EPP, with Jean-Claude Juncker, has a leading margin of more than 20 seats in the EU Parliament, the Council should nominate him,” European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger was quoted as saying.