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Excerpts from the interview:
Juncker: The use of EU summits to frame political victories or defeats is an annoying habit. It's important to recognise that we in Europe will either succeed together or fail together. Everyone attending the summits assumes that Italy won't need the bailout funds in the first place. If it does happen, contrary to expectations, Italy will also have to submit to the established European monitoring procedures.
SPIEGEL: Germany's Federal Constitutional Court is currently debating whether the bailout funds jeopardise democracy because they excessively curtail the scope of national politics. Is this concern justified?
Juncker: Of course it's justified. But the question doesn't just arise in Germany. The constitutional issue is also being raised in other euro countries. In Estonia, the country's supreme court reviewed and then endorsed the bailout fund. That's why I don't think that the Karlsruhe judges will stop it.
SPIEGEL: But it will certainly be delayed, because the court wants to take until the fall to conduct its review. Will this create problems?
Juncker: It certainly isn't helpful. But who am I to criticise German constitutional court judges? They are the masters of the process, and I think they are aware of our time constraints.
SPIEGEL: The chancellor said that there would be no eurobonds for as long as she lives. You are exactly the same age as Merkel. Would you sign that sentence?
Juncker: The future will show who was right. I'm convinced that, in the long term, a monetary union includes a joint debt policy under strict, mutually agreed upon conditions. To that end, we submitted our concepts at the summit.
SPIEGEL: You propose that the governments should only be allowed to take on new debt within narrow limits, and that anything exceeding those limits would have to be approved at the European level. The question remains, how do you intend to democratically validate this shift of decisions to Brussels?
Juncker: It's a real problem. We have to redraft the parliamentary structures of the monetary union. It would make sense to entrust the European Parliament with portions of budgetary control. But I don't see a willingness to do so in the majority of capitals at the moment. That's why the national parliaments have to be incorporated more deeply into this task. It would also make it easier to explain to citizens if their directly elected election district representative determined what happened to tax money.
SPIEGEL: What can be done to make Europe more appealing to people once again?
Juncker: I would favour creating the office of European president at the end of the process, a president who is directly elected by EU citizens. As a preliminary step, the offices of the European Council president and the European Commission president could be combined. The Lisbon Treaty doesn't rule this out; it would be the precursor to a European president.
SPIEGEL: Wouldn't there have to be a European finance minister, as well?
Juncker: That would make sense. Here there are also possibilities within the existing EU treaty. The position of EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs could be combined with the office of Eurogroup chairman. That job would be a great challenge for anyone who assumed it. On the one hand, he would have to make proposals. On the other hand, he would have to negotiate compromises with his European counterparts.
SPIEGEL: Wouldn't that be a job for you? After all, you were re-elected at the last Eurogroup meeting, even though you actually wanted to step down.
Juncker: Absolutely not. After my election, I immediately announced that I would not be available for the entire term. I hope that a successor is found by early 2013.
SPIEGEL: According to Merkel's and French President François Hollande's plans, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble would assume the position initially, to be replaced later on by his French counterpart, Pierre Moscovici. How do you feel about the idea?
Juncker: I don't know what exactly Mrs Merkel and Mr Hollande discussed. Decisions can only be reached in Europe if France and Germany agree. But it's also true that going it alone doesn't make you very popular with the other Member States. To put it clearly: In my view, Schäuble meets all the requirements to become head of the Eurogroup.