03 February 2016

Commission President Juncker: Preparation of the European Council meeting of 18 and 19 February

Jean-Claude Juncker analyses each one of the measures offered in Council President Tusk proposed settlement for the UK in the EU. Juncker says the most delicate issue, regarding free movement, has been addressed by a safeguard mechanism limited in time and applied only in exceptional cases.

Speech by Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission

[...] yesterday President Tusk presented his proposed new settlement for the United Kingdom in the European Union. Let me be clear from the start: the European Commission has been fully associated to the work on this settlement. The Commission's best experts have worked over many months to find creative solutions. I have worked closely with President Tusk and Prime Minister Cameron to shape the proposal presented yesterday. Therefore, the Commission supports these texts. I have always said I wanted the UK to remain a member of the European Union on the basis of a fair deal. The settlement that has been proposed is fair for the United Kingdom, and fair for the other 27 Member States. It is also fair for the European Parliament.

The European Parliament has a key stake in the process and a crucial role to play. [...] As of Friday, your Sherpas will take part in the discussions leading up to the decisive European Council of 18 February. President Schulz will be sitting at the table in the European Council. All understand that the European Parliament must be fully signed-up to the new settlement. If the citizens of the UK deliver a positive verdict, you will be called upon to deliver crucial legislative elements of the settlement. I will not take you through the main elements of the settlement. That is, by the way, a duty for the President of the European Council and not so much one of the European Commission.

But, like Prime Minister Cameron, we all want the European Union to become more competitive and to create more jobs. We must not stifle innovation and competitiveness with regulations that are too prescriptive and too detailed, notably when it comes to small and medium sized enterprises. That's why the Commission has shortened and streamlined its annual work programmes, withdrawing a greater number of legislative acts than it proposes. That's why it is so important, as the Commission and as the Dutch Presidency are saying, to complete the Single Market, to build the Energy Union, to complete the Digital Single Market and to establish a Capital Markets Union. This is the programme of the European Commission and I appreciate the support of the United Kingdom in that respect.

 

The settlement proposed by President Tusk recognises that not all Member States participate in all areas of EU policy. The United Kingdom benefits from more Protocols and opt-outs than any other Member State. This is why, as a matter of law and as a matter of fact, the concept of ever closer union has already assumed a different meaning in its case. The settlement recognises this. It recognises that if the United Kingdom considered that it is now at the limits of its level of integration, then that is fine. At the same time, it makes clear that other Member States can move towards a deeper degree of integration, as they see fit. In this way we have addressed the Prime Minister's concerns, while respecting the Treaties. I advocated from the start of my election campaign that National Parliaments should play a greater role in our democratic system. I included this pledge in the Political Guidelines on the basis of which you elected this Commission. The settlement presented yesterday provides for this.

As you know, the most difficult discussions we had with our British colleagues related to free movement. The settlement addresses situations in which large scale movements of EU nationals are not related to the attractiveness of labour markets but to the structure and the generosity of social security systems.

We propose to create a safeguard mechanism, tailor-made to the concerns of the United Kingdom, that would allow it to restrict the access of EU workers newly entering its labour market to in-work benefits in a graduated manner for a period of up to four years. The duration of the mechanism will be limited in time – that is a crucial characteristic of a safeguard mechanism, necessary in order to make it compatible with the Treaties. It will apply in exceptional cases, as all derogations from the four freedoms should.

In 2004, the UK did not use the transitional periods that would have allowed it to phase-in the right of free movement of the citizens of eight new Member States. As a result, over the past decade, the UK attracted record number of mobile EU citizens. In effect, we will enable the United Kingdom to use the safeguard mechanism to address the consequences of that decision. [...]

Full speech

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