Former Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker. Photo: Helen Atkinson/The Times/PAFormer Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker was yesterday officially nominated as president-designate of the next European Commission at the end of a two-day EU summit in Brussels.
The European People’s Party candidate was endorsed by 26 of the 28 EU leaders with only British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orban, opposing his nomination.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who during the MEP elections campaigned for Socialist candidate Martin Schultz, voted with the majority for Mr Juncker’s nomination.
Irregular migration was not really given any particular importance beyond the usual repetition of past declarations
More than the name of the Commission president, what really mattered was the five-year plan he would implement to generate wealth and work, Dr Muscat was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the government last night.
Mr Juncker, who has been involved in the top echelons of the EU for the past two decades, is expected to be given the green light by the European Parliament in a vote on July 16. As a compromise, Mr Schultz is expected to remain president of the Parliament.
On the same day of the MEPs’ vote, EU leaders will meet in Brussels to decide on two other key posts in the EU’s bureaucratic structure: the High Representative, practically the EU’s foreign minister, and the new European Council President to succeed Herman Van Rompuy.
Despite high hopes raised before the summit by Italy and Malta on more progress on the irregular migration front, the issue was barely touched by EU leaders, preferring to deal with more taxing issues, particularly the economy and the need for more flexibility in keeping to fiscal rules.
Sources in Brussels told Times of Malta that irregular migration and the need for more solidarity with member states facing intense pressure, such as Malta and Italy, were not really given any particular importance beyond “the usual repetition of past declarations”.
A government statement said that Dr Muscat noted that, for the first time, the Council had accepted the concept of sharing of responsibilities when dealing with irregular migration.
In their final conclusions, no mention was made to the Mare Nostrum initiative launched by Italy to save lives in the Mediterranean. Instead, the conclusions state that EU member states should focus on “fully implementing the actions identified by the Task Force for the Mediterranean” set up at the end of last year to come out with concrete proposals on migration.
Italy wants the EU’s border control agency, Frontex, to take over the Mare Nostrum operation off the coast of southern Italy. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said there was basis for an agreement so that Frontex could expand its missions in the Mediterranean. However, no further details were given.