No way. Euroscepticism and a new political scenario difficult to manage force the president of the European Commission to go ahead
Opinion
Jean-Claude Juncker faced the so called LuxLeaks "scandal" and the political answer is he'll stay where he is. He will remain at the head of the European Commission, and for at least two reasons. First of all everybody knows Luxembourg is a tax heaven, this is something we can't discover today. If we do, it's our mistake and Juncker's. Not only Juncker's. The latter pointed out in Europe there are other twenty one countries allowing the so called advanced tax ruling, the special fiscal agreement between companies and national authorities by which enterprises have a very low tax rate to pay just in the country they negotiate with and are exempted from paying in other state they operate. Thus problem don't lie in Luxembourg, and it's not a new. There's a strange timing for this scandal, but this is another story. Somebody wants to weaken Jean-Claude Juncker's image, but the president of the European Commission can't be forced to resign. Juncker is the result of a European political revolution, the indirect election wanted by the European parties. Since voters have expressed their right after the indication of Juncker for president by the EPP, should we expect new elections? This a question MEPs in the European Parliament probably asked themselves when decided to renew their confidence in Juncker. The EU can't afford a period of legislative and political vacancy: economic and foreign agendas require to be operative. In case of Junckers' resignation the European Commission would have its power of legislative initiative blocked, and the same would happen for the co-decision power of the European Parliament. Of course, if the EU Parliament has to be forced to quit functioning.
The point is nobody knows what the political evolution of the electoral process means in case of crisis. Everybody agreed in having an indication of EU Commission president by parties, but - as already said - nobody discussed how to deal with an institutional crisis. The European Parliament, as well as the European parties, have in front of them a new unknown scenario. Thus basically the main political forces don't know how to manage such a situation. The best solution is, in term of realpolitik, giving Juncker all the time to work on it. There is also another reason explaining why Juncker can't resign: euroscepticism. Any Juncker's political crisis would strengthen the anti-European movements and parties all around Europe. Since Juncker is the result of the agreement of the traditional political parties, accepting any Juncker's resignation would mean recognise the failure of the traditional ideas of Europe. Something today the EU can't permit. In LuxLeaks case there's not only Juncker's credibility at stake. It's the whole system to be endangered.
Jean-Claude Juncker faced the so called LuxLeaks "scandal" and the political answer is he'll stay where he is. He will remain at the head of the European Commission, and for at least two reasons. First of all everybody knows Luxembourg is a tax heaven, this is something we can't discover today. If we do, it's our mistake and Juncker's. Not only Juncker's. The latter pointed out in Europe there are other twenty one countries allowing the so called advanced tax ruling, the special fiscal agreement between companies and national authorities by which enterprises have a very low tax rate to pay just in the country they negotiate with and are exempted from paying in other state they operate. Thus problem don't lie in Luxembourg, and it's not a new. There's a strange timing for this scandal, but this is another story. Somebody wants to weaken Jean-Claude Juncker's image, but the president of the European Commission can't be forced to resign. Juncker is the result of a European political revolution, the indirect election wanted by the European parties. Since voters have expressed their right after the indication of Juncker for president by the EPP, should we expect new elections? This a question MEPs in the European Parliament probably asked themselves when decided to renew their confidence in Juncker. The EU can't afford a period of legislative and political vacancy: economic and foreign agendas require to be operative. In case of Junckers' resignation the European Commission would have its power of legislative initiative blocked, and the same would happen for the co-decision power of the European Parliament. Of course, if the EU Parliament has to be forced to quit functioning.
The point is nobody knows what the political evolution of the electoral process means in case of crisis. Everybody agreed in having an indication of EU Commission president by parties, but - as already said - nobody discussed how to deal with an institutional crisis. The European Parliament, as well as the European parties, have in front of them a new unknown scenario. Thus basically the main political forces don't know how to manage such a situation. The best solution is, in term of realpolitik, giving Juncker all the time to work on it. There is also another reason explaining why Juncker can't resign: euroscepticism. Any Juncker's political crisis would strengthen the anti-European movements and parties all around Europe. Since Juncker is the result of the agreement of the traditional political parties, accepting any Juncker's resignation would mean recognise the failure of the traditional ideas of Europe. Something today the EU can't permit. In LuxLeaks case there's not only Juncker's credibility at stake. It's the whole system to be endangered.
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