Cameron humiliated after Juncker vote defeat

The leaders of Sweden and Germany have offered encouragement to David Cameron after his defeat in a vote on the new European Commission president.

Britain forced a vote to block the selection of Jean-Claude Juncker, seen as a backer of closer political union, but EU states voted 26-2 in his favour. Sweden backed Juncker but after the vote PM Fredrik Reinfeldt said he knew closer union was not “for everyone”.

Germany’s Angela Merkel said she was “ready to address British concerns”. Labour said the result of Friday’s vote was “humiliating” for the UK Prime Minister but Cameron said it was not his “last stand”.

He said he would not “back down” in his fight to reform the EU and take powers back from Brussels, something he plans to do before holding a referendum on Britain’s EU membership after the next general election.

Speaking about the vote, he said: “This is a bad day for Europe. “It risks undermining the position of national governments, it risks undermining the power of national parliaments and it hands over new power to the European Parliament.”

Reinfeldt pointed to a document issued by EU leaders after the vote which accepted that the idea of an ever-closer union should not apply to all member states.

“Just look into what we have written in our conclusions,” he said.

“You will find references with text, which I think is very important for David Cameron, saying this ever-closer union perception maybe not the best for everyone.”

– BBC