Newsroom / CNA
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in an interview with POLITICO mentioned the non resolution of the Cyprus issue as "one of his regrets" concerning his tenure at the helm of the executive branch of the EU.
Negotiations at Crans Montana in July of 2017 ended inconclusively.
Juncker was asked about his biggest regrets of the past 5 years answering "there are many, you should ask what my successes are, then I would be unstoppable. I have some regrets, smaller but important ones. I am sad, although I was spending a lot of efforts in that direction, that I was not able to bring the Cypriot question to a good end. I started there, I visited Cyprus different times, the Republic of Cyprus also the Turkish community. We were very close and then it evaporated."
Regarding Brexit Juncker clarified that the deal on the UK`s withdrawal agreement from the European Union will not be reopened. He also noted that he had the impression that for months now the main interest in British civil society was to replace Theresa May and not how to find an agreement with the European Union.
"Anyway, the deal exists," he continued. "We have signed a withdrawal agreement (WA) with T.May, which is not a treaty between T.May and Juncker, but an agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union, which must be respected by the next British Prime Minister. I am clear, there will be no renegotiations on the content of the WA ".
Regarding the "spitzenkandidaten" process, he stressed that he is in favor of the process and would not want to go back to an era where "leaders elect the President of the Commission in a dark room." Juncker also made it clear that he would like EPP lead candidate Manfred Weber to succeed him in the presidency of the European Commission.
