Until 2019, Jean-Claude Juncker was president of the European Commission, succeeded by Ursula von der Leyen. In the successive crises that have plagued the EU over the years, he has always been the one who supported European consensual solutions. It was something like the voice of reason. The one who suddenly managed to get along with the then prime minister Alexis Tsipras, at a time when others saw the family of 28 at the time going full speed ahead to 26 with Greece out of the eurozone. Today Junker may be far from the political reality of Brussels, but not and spatially. Twice a week he “comes down” to the capital of the European institutions. He is writing a book and needs the files, but also the contact with the Commissioners and heads of state and government when they meet on the 8th floor of the Berlemont building.

“Same Ukrainian and Syrian war refugee”

Tomorrow, the 27 meet again in Granada with the asylum deal as the main topic, and Juncker, with his experience of the 2015 migration crisis, sends his own message in a wide-ranging interview with the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.¨’ I wish for more warmth in the heart,” he says. “It’s an old-fashioned expression, it almost sounds like 19th-century romantic German literature, but people are people. You can’t divide them by religion or geography.” It has been 8 years since the EU was once again faced with the refugee crisis, but “today’s problems are almost no different from those we faced in 2015,” Juncker recalled. “Europe must remain an open continent for the world’s persecuted who legally seek asylum. But we must make a fine and sometimes harsh distinction between those entitled to asylum and irregular migrants,” he notes. “The fact that we are unable to take strong action is not due to the unimaginative Commission, but because the Member States, in the context of their internal political developments, mistakes and confusions, cannot decide that they should face this the crisis with solidarity”.

The former president of the Commission argues that if the states followed what the Commission proposed in 2015, the situation would not be so dramatic today. One of the points of the refugee drama was and remains its instrumentalization by the ethno-populist far-right European forces. “The far right formulates simple answers for complex processes” underlines Juncker sending the message to people not to fall into the trap and believe in these easy answers even in times of uncertainty like this. For Georgia Meloni, she argues that when extremists are in power, they should be judged by their actions, not their words. “Declaring Ms. Meloni a ‘leper’ in advance, even if she is trying to move into the European mainstream, does not help and strengthens the extremists. We need to talk to those who are not like us. But I am against colluding with these meta-fascists. …and since I am the only European Christian Democrat who is still allowed to quote Lenin, I tell you, we must try to look behind things and thus pay attention to the deeper unpleasant reflexes as well.”

“Not at the push of a button”

His attitude towards the accession of Ukraine to the EU does not go along with the dominant one in Brussels. “We must not make false promises to the people of Ukraine who are suffering so much,” he told the German newspaper. “I am very irritated by some voices in Europe trying to convince Ukrainians that they can join immediately. This would not be good for the EU or for Ukraine. Anyone who has dealt with Ukraine knows that this is a country that is corrupt at all levels of society. Despite efforts, it is not ready for integration, it needs major internal reform processes. We have had bad experiences with some so-called new members, for example regarding the rule of law. This must not be repeated.” At the same time it does not exclude it completely but under strict conditions and in an intermediate form. “The European perspective on Moldova and Ukraine… should not be linked to the hope that this can be achieved overnight simply by pressing a button. If progress is made in these countries, whether it is Ukraine or the Western Balkans, it should certainly be possible for them to participate in parts of European integration. We should work to make possible something like a partial integration, a smart form of enlargement.”

And in order not to sink the European project, Jean-Claude Juncker believes that unanimity in foreign policy matters should be abolished and decisions should be made by a qualified majority. And to those who fear or hope for the swallowing of united Europe, it reminds of its achievements so far. “The EU expanded peacefully to Eastern and Central Europe, we succeeded in reconciling European geography and history. We achieved monetary union, strengthened the internal market, overcame the financial crisis. In the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the European front stands united ,with small swings from the Hungarians and others. Overall, the EU has proven itself not only as an edifice of ideas, but also as a functioning political partnership. We have experienced, lived and survived many things. And now suddenly we think everything is going wrong. A lot of things don’t go wrong.”