Britain’s tabloid The Sun portrayed him as “the most dangerous man in Europe”. Prime Minister David Cameron linked Britain’s EU membership to him, while other leaders and MEPs said that without him as Commission chief, democracy itself would be undermined.
All the buzz surrounding Britain’s opposition to his nomination has made him probably the first widely-known head of an EU institution. But who is Jean-Claude Juncker?
The 59-year old Luxembourg politician was the EU’s longest serving prime minister until last year, when he lost his post due to an illegal wiretapping scandal.
Luxembourg’s intelligence service (SREL) last year was embroiled in a scandal when it emerged that it had carried out illegal wiretaps, kept secret files on people and run a fictional counterterror operation to cover for a Russian oligarch.
Juncker said he was not aware of the abuses, but he had to step down, prompting early elections, in which his party gained the most seats. But the Grand Duke of Luxembourg tasked Liberal Xavier Bettel, not Juncker, with forming a government.
Often portrayed as a ‘veteran’ in EU politics, Juncker was a finance minister when Germany was governed by Chancellor Helmut Kohl, with whom he helped lay down the foundations of the euro.
Juncker started out relatively young. He was 35 years old when appointed finance minister in 1989, a post he held for twenty years, partially overlapping with his premiership (1995-2013).
