UK would be blocked from rejoining ‘wounded’ EU, says Jean-Claude Juncker

[00:00:01]The UK would be cold shoulder cold shoulder by wounded EU member states if it applies to rejoin the block says the man who presided over its exit process.

[00:00:09]Junk Jean Jean Claude Juncker, I know I mispronounced his name apologies. Former president of the European Commission told the FT I don't think we joining is possible because all of us we are wounded to some extent by this historical steps the British have taken.

[00:00:23]A majority of European governments was cold shouldered this because the British are very close to the US whereas the US is not very popular for the time being inside the European Union he added.

[00:00:33]10 years on from the UK vote to leave the EU and with Sir Keir Starmer under pressure to quit as Prime Minister many center-left politicians see reversing Brexit as a radical agenda that could invigorate progressives.

[00:00:43]Lord Spencer Livermore a UK Treasurer recently said rejoining the EU was an inevitability. Some European heads of government including Spain's Pedro Sanchez and Paolo Tusk has said they would welcome such a move. But Juncker said the the favorable terms the EU had as an EU member would would no longer be available. They included an opt-out from adopting the Euro and the Schengen borderless travel zone as well as a budget rebate.

[00:01:06]If Britain were to start by saying we want our money back and then we say there is no money there. This is true.

[00:01:11]It's and I want to just say this here before we go any further. This is not the UK rejoining. This is the UK joining the European Union.

[00:01:21]Okay? This is this is would be us joining the European Union not rejoining. It's a very different very different from what we had before.

[00:01:30]Uh thank you Bob Scott for 2 pound super chat Tartan Army great ambassador for Scotland. Indeed indeed indeed. Thank you for that appreciate it.

[00:01:38]A deal given to the former Prime Minister David Cameron to try and sell the idea of staying in the EU during the the June 2016 referendum campaign which allowed reduced social security payments for EU citizens living in the UK and an opt-out from a commitment to ever closer union would also not be renewed he said. I don't think that an application to rejoin would go through like a letter in the post to Juncker, a former Prime Minister of Luxembourg.

[00:02:01]He also doubted that Starmer's successor would back rejoining because of the vivid counter-reaction it would provoke in Britain. True.

[00:02:08]Juncker also became a virtual hate figure for many Brexit supporters who saw him as led by high-handed Brussels federalism.

[00:02:14]He said Cameron told him not to take part in 2016 referendum campaign on the assumption that his pro-European intervention would propel remain voters.

[00:02:22]No, I think they should have I >> You know what? In hindsight, maybe they should have been more involved.

[00:02:30]Maybe they should have been.

[00:02:32]>> Um so, I didn't say a word during the campaign, although I should have done I should have done that this because uh not Farage and others spread so much wrong fake news.

[00:02:42]Now 71, still using an office in the Commission's Berlaymont uh Berlaymont headquarters, he said he believes that the nation-state and not a federalist EU um he admitted that Brussels had made mistakes by proposing unnecessary red tape alienating London.

[00:02:57]Soon after he took office in 2014, for example, he was presented with a plan to harmonize regulation on toilet flushing across the bloc.

[00:03:04]He vetoed it saying, "I will not start by mandating my my mandate with toilets."

[00:03:09]He said that the UK's departure had been a loss to the EU because the country had brought common sense to European discussions.

[00:03:20]Uh Juncker holds a photo of himself with Nigel Farage. "I will remember him as a tough guy, a good debater, and as a liar."

[00:03:29]But he defended the deal he struck with Cameron before the 2016 campaign, which also allowed limits on freedom of movement. He still has a letter from the former premier thanking him and saying he would allow him to campaign for remain in the Brexit referendum.

[00:03:42]Cameron hardly mentioned the achievement during the campaign. However, Juncker said he always believed the leavers would win.

[00:03:48]The British never felt at ease in the European Union. British governments were explaining to the British public that Britain was there for economic reasons.

[00:03:55]His main aim throughout the Brexit negotiations was to ensure unity and to deter other member states from leaving.

[00:04:00]Given the marvelous result of Brexit, I don't think that anyone is inspired by his move. By his movie, he joked, "What happened since since Brexit in Britain was foreseeable, because all the lies that were told during the campaign are revealing themselves to have been lies and nothing of the accepted advances from the exit Britain has happened."

[00:04:17]One unexpected memento in Juncker's office is a photo of him Farage when the UK politician was a member of the European Union.

[00:04:24]Juncker said he had a fair respectful relationship with Farage, now leader of right-wing populist party Reform UK. "I will remember him as a tough guy, good debater, and a liar," he added.

[00:04:34]That was a very good read.

[00:04:36]That was a very good read indeed.

[00:04:40]I think you