Politico — “Without Britain the European Union would no longer be complete,” according to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
In an interview in Athens with Euronews, published Monday, Juncker said “without the British pragmatism, the down-to-earth, the no-nonsense approach the British very often are approving, the European Union would not change its nature but there would be a missing element.”
Juncker said he hoped the U.K. would vote to remain in the EU at Thursday’s referendum out of common sense, “because common sense is a British virtue.”
The comments appear at odds with those made by Günther Oettinger, the European commissioner for the digital economy and society, who said a week ago that Brexit could see the EU “develop a new perspective” and “gather new dynamics.”
Juncker also addressed Greek economic reforms enforced by the country’s creditors in exchange for a bailout package last year.
“I am not satisfied but I am more satisfied than I thought I could be satisfied in the summer of 2015,” Juncker said of the pace of the country’s progress, while acknowledging that “many, many Greeks” view the austerity requirements as “unjust.”
“I admire the Greeks for the way they are dealing with these problems,” Juncker told Euronews.
