It appears Jean-Claude Juncker is keen to make his mark in the EU as his five-year term as European Commission president expires in 2019 with a grand masterplan to rebuild the bloc, left in tatters after Britain’s momentous decision to leave. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker delivered on September 13 his 2017 State of the Union Address, before the elected members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, presenting his priorities for the year ahead and outlining his vision for how the European Union could evolve by 2025. It’s not the future of Europe.”

To cheering British MEPs celebrating the country’s departure, Juncker said: “I think you will regret it quite soon.”

Juncker has less than two years left in office as head of the EU’s powerful executive arm to ensure that his legacy is not limited to the departure of one of the European Union’s largest member states. “Brexit,” he added, was “a tragic moment”, but “not the be all and end all.”

Manfred Weber, the leader of the centre-right European People’s Party, the largest group in the European Parliament warned that British prime minister Theresa May’s current approach to Brexit “will not fly.”
President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, holds his annual State of the European Union speech in Strasbourg.