Juncker follows in footsteps of his hero

The European union's new president is determined to solve the bloc's ills with ever-closer union

Although the possibility of any exit from the euro has basically been left behind, both socially and economically, the European Union is still very sick. Several core economies such as France and Italy may slip into their third recession in six years.

Starting his first week running the colossal but challenge-ridden EU machinery, the new European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, who governed the tiny city-state of Luxembourg for 18 years, must quickly come to grips with the breathtaking complexities of the bloc.

In seeking a cure-all therapy for the enlarging bloc, Juncker has chosen to identify himself with those European political gurus who played decisive roles in forging the EU.

On his first day of work after entering the Charlemagne building in Brussels, Juncker traveled to Frankfurt and attended the launch of a book by 84-year-old Helmut Kohl, who was the chancellor of West Germany from 1982 to 1990 and then of the reunified Germany from 1990 to 1998.

In this German-language book, the title of which translates as Worrying About Europe, Kohl has urged more spirit in forging European unity, even as a crippling economic slowdown and soaring unemployment have resulted in growing public skepticism and mistrust toward the EU among the public in the EU countries.

Juncker also planned to speak alongside Jacques Delors at a Brussels forum on new directions for Europe on the afternoon of Nov 6. But the 89-year-old Delors, who served three times as European Commission president between 1984 and 1995, canceled at the last minute because he felt too feeble to travel from Paris to Brussels.

Juncker has always praised Delors, who he calls his hero and who he credits as being the most successful driver of European federalism.

Europessimism was also mounting when Delors started his first term as executive head of the European Economic Community in 1980s. But together with Kohl and former French prime minister Francois Mitterrand, Delors pushed to set up the EU single market, the foundation stone for the European Economic and Monetary Union. Known as the father of the euro, Delors also had a hand in the Maastricht Treaty, the milestone pact that came into force in 1993, and which replaced the European Economic Community with the European Union and established a set of detailed requirements for countries wanting to join the bloc.

Delors' track record, the International Herald Tribune said, "rescued the European Community from the doldrums", and still is inspiring for Junker, whose very first days in the European Commission coincide with reminders of Europe's turmoil over the last century. On Nov 9, Europeans celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, while Nov 11 marks the anniversary of the end of World War I in the year that is the 100th anniversary of the breakout of that bloodbath.

However, Juncker and other European politicians will not be able to muse over the past for long, as they have work to do.

On Nov 4, his colleagues released a report stating the economic recovery that stared in the second quarter of 2013 is fragile, economic momentum is still weak and business confidence is receding.

They also warned that downside risks to growth still dominate on the back of geopolitical tensions, fragility in financial markets and crises resulting from incomplete implementation of structural reforms.

Jobs and growth remain the top priority, and Juncker has promised to channel 300 billion euros ($371.79 billion) into private and public investments during the coming three years, although there are those who say this is not ambitious enough for an advanced economy with a population of 500 million.

His critics, most notably British Prime Minister David Cameron, argue he is out of touch with the times and is not the modernizer the bloated EU bureaucracy needs, that the US has moved faster than the European Union in post-crisis economic recovery and that the EU needs to adjust to changing times.

Juncker's meeting with Kohl and scheduled debate with Delors were telling signs of his commitment to ever closer union as the direction to improve the vigor and efficiency of this economic and monetary union.

And five or 10 years later, when he runs to the finishing line of his one or possibly two tenures as European Commission president, Juncker will know if that commitment has let him join the ranks of his heroes as a leader of European federalism or if it served to tear their dream apart.

The author is China Daily chief correspondent in Brussels. Contact the writer at fujing@chinadaily.com.cn