A Tired and Emotional Jean-Claude Juncker Condemns "Stupid Nationalists, They Are in Love with Their Own Countries"
05/24/2019
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Long-time iSteve favorite, the often tired and emotional EU supremo Jean-Claude Juncker, summed up his views in a speech that sounds like I wrote it for him. From CNN:

Juncker lashes out at ‘stupid nationalists’ on eve of European elections

By Frederik Pleitgen and Luke McGee, CNN

Updated 1858 GMT (0258 HKT) May 22, 2019

Brussels (CNN) European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has lashed out at “stupid nationalists” on the eve of European elections in which euroskeptic politicians are expected to make gains in the European Parliament.

“Jean-Claude Juncker” would be a great name for the villain in a Die Hard sequel.

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, the outgoing president said he was only too aware of the threat that nationalist politicians pose to European solidarity, which Juncker called the “main objective of the EU.”

Some polls project that populists may become the most powerful group in the parliament following this week’s elections in all 28 EU nations, resulting in a lasting impact on the future of the bloc and the continent at large. “These populist, nationalists, stupid nationalists, they are in love with their own countries,” Juncker told CNN in his Brussels office.

“They don’t like those coming from far away, I like those coming from far away … we have to act in solidarity with those who are in a worse situation than we are in,” he said.

Okay, but isn’t acting in solidarity with those coming from far away (i.e., non-Europeans) the opposite of the “European solidarity” that is supposed to be, according to Juncker, the “main objective of the EU”? I dunno … I’ve been pointing out for roughly ever that there is, theoretically, a compromise between nationalism and globalism: continentalism.

And the European project was set up specifically to benefit Europeans, which is why it has been moderately successful. And yet, the leaders of the European project now talk as if the founding purpose of the European project was to inundate Europeans with the Global South.

Juncker said he saw a glimmer of hope in what has happened since the Britain’s decision to leave the EU, back in 2016. “Since Brexit … the number of those in favor of the European Union is increasing because people are watching what is happening and they are seeing that leaving the European Union is not as easy as they were told.”

[Comment at Unz.com]

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