Hard and cold words from the president of the EU commission Jan-Claude Juncker to the premier Matteo Renzi. “He is wrong to vilify the EU commission”, said Juncker and again: probably “at the end of February I will go to Italy, because the atmosphere between Italy and the Commission is not the best”. After the criticisms of the Commissioner for the Economy Moscovici of the position taken by Italy, Juncker therefore recharged the dose by speaking at the conference at the beginning of the year in Brussels.
“I always hesitate – Juncker said – to express myself with the same vigor with which Renzi addresses me, because he doesn't always fix things”. "I believe that the Italian prime minister, whom I love very much, is wrong to vilify the Commission at every opportunity, I don't see why he does it" because "Italy, to tell the truth, shouldn't criticize it too much" as "we have introduced flexibility against the will of some member states that many say dominate Europe”.
And again: “I was very surprised – he continued – that at the end of the six-month Italian presidency Renzi said in front of Parliament that it was he who introduced the flexibility, because it was me, I was”. "On this - he added - I want us to stick to reality". “I keep my grudge in my pocket, but don't think I'm naive,” he said again.
"I have difficulty understanding Italy's stupefying reserve to finance the 3 billion to Turkey, because these don't go to Turkey itself but to Syrian refugees in Turkey," he added.
Juncker's speech touched on more general topics, at a time when tensions inside and outside the Union are endangering its progress. “I am impressed – underlined Juncker – by the fragility of the EU and by the ruptures that have occurred or are expected to occur”. "There is a 'polycrisis' not yet fully controlled", from refugees to terrorism to Ukraine and Russia, he underlined, and for this "I will do everything to avoid this feeling of the beginning of the end" of Europe.
In particular, Juncker touched on one of the most controversial issues of the moment, that of immigration and border controls: "Nobody talks about the link between Schengen and the free movement of capital: the end of Schengen will risk putting an end to the economic and monetary policy and the problem of unemployment will become even more important, we need to look at things as a whole". “Border controls have a price, for example those between Sweden and Denmark cost 300 million in lost revenue, and those between Germany and Denmark 90 million”.
