Juncker the drinker on the way out

[mercalia]

Things are hotting up

seems like Junker who wants more EU not less, a bit of an alco and Merkel intends to get rid of him by next year

At the time The Telegraph and several other newspapers reported officials worrying about Mr Juncker having "cognac for breakfast" and rolling through long negotiations fortified with large quantities of claret and brandy.

seems like he has been “gloating” over the UK referendum result.

Prior to the Brexit vote senior European Commission officials were privately jubilant about the opportunity that a British ‘leave’ vote would present to complete the European project, sucking reluctant countries like Poland into the Euro “within five years”.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/03/angela-merkel-to-oust-jean-claude-juncker-as-europe-splits-deepe/

[[XAP]Bob]

Don't care how much he drinks, with a puts own like "you're behaving like UKIP" at the MEPs when Mr Farage was speaking he can carry on!

[Audax67]

Cf. W.S. Churchill & U.S. Grant. Lincoln: "find out what he drinks and send a bottle to each of my other generals".

[kylecycler]

Boris Johnson's former campaign manager just revealed that Michael Gove likes the sauce - makes him gossip, apparently (or maybe he just likes to gossip and the drink helps).

Meanwhile, Johnson’s former campaign manager, Ben Wallace, has accused Michael Gove of being untrustworthy because he has “an emotional need to gossip, particularly when drink is taken, as it all too often seemed to be”. Writing in the Telegraph, Wallace said things started to go wrong as soon as Gove joined the former London mayor’s Tory leadership campaign and accused him of being behind stories that leaked to the media.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... hip-battle

[mjr]

Why is the Telegraph now reposting allegations from 2014's Daily Fail? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... g-job.html

Is it made up or this being reported by any reputable (non-UK!) news sources without attributing it to the Telegraph?

[mercalia]

Cf. W.S. Churchill & U.S. Grant. Lincoln: "find out what he drinks and send a bottle to each of my other generals".

well Churchill was responsible for some disastrous decisions? So obsessed with the myth of THE Royal Navy, the sending of the battle ships ( Repulse and Prince of Wales - very new ones ) to Singapore without air support that led to them being sunk? The Norway expedition? Churchill only a "great war leader" as he had the gift of the gab and capable of (drunken?) bravado as a figure head, thats all I think ( We have seen how this works in the Brexit campaign? ) He was quite rightly shown the door after the war?

[mercalia]

Why is the Telegraph now reposting allegations from 2014's Daily Fail? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... g-job.html

Is it made up or this being reported by any reputable (non-UK!) news sources without attributing it to the Telegraph?

the difference is that NOW Germany aims to remove him? An update due to Brexit, he is now a liability? The mail article "just" describes in great detail how bad it is? Makes you wonder why on earth he got the job? as he was Germany's choice?

I dont read the Mail so glad for the extra ref and I bet many leavers here will be convinced they did the right thing giving what kind of man rules and election processes that go on in Brussels?

[mjr]

the difference is that NOW Germany aims to remove him? The mail article "just" describes in great detail how bad it is? Makes you wonder why on earth he got the job? as he was Germany's choice?

Was he? I thought he was the European People's Party nomination and they were the largest party in the European Parliament following the last election, so their nominee became president - similar to how the nominee of the largest UK Commons party becomes Prime Minister. The days of national governments appointing the commission president have gone. I'm pretty sure that the EU's upper house (the Council, where Merkel and Cameron sit) can apply pressure but not remove him, just like the Lords can't sack the PM here. Merkel is of CDU/CSU which is an EPP member, so might be able to apply more pressure than Cameron (of an ECR party) but Juncker's didn't have unanimous EPP member party support, with Orban joining Cameron in opposing his appointment in Council.

Very strange how it's not being reported on German news sites, isn't it? They seem more interested in the Socialist Party debating its approach to the EU.

And it's not like any UK head of government has had a reputation for liking a bit of a drink: Churchill, Wilson, Blair and probably many more.