BY BEN KERRIGAN
The idea of Boris Johnson becoming British prime minister is a “horror scenario” , according to the top official of the European Commission, Mr. Selmeyr, and compared him to the French Front National politician, Marine Le Pen.
The president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and his top official have made a scathing attack against former London Mayor, Boris Johnson
Mr Juncker insinuated that the former London mayor’s depiction of the EU is “in line with reality”.
Mr Johnson insisted that his pro-Leave views are in line with reality and that the EU is turning into a federal super state.
“What the British people want to hear is slightly less from international observers and more about the arguments,” he said.
Welcome to Brussels
The war of words were sparked at a press conference at the G7 summit in Japan when Mr Juncker was asked to comment on Mr Johnson’s comparison of the EU’s efforts to unify Europe, with earlier attempts by Napoleon and Hitler.
The European Commission chief said he had read in the papers “that Boris Johnson spent part of his life in Brussels”, adding: “It’s time for him to come back to Brussels, in order to check in Brussels if everything he’s telling British people is in line with reality. The exchange was precipitated by comments Johnson made in The Telegraph that the EU was reminiscent of repeated attempts to rediscover the “golden age of peace and prosperity under the Romans”.
“Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically. The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods,” Johnson said at the time.
“But fundamentally what is lacking is the eternal problem, which is that there is no underlying loyalty to the idea of Europe, he added.
“There is no single authority that anybody respects or understands. That is causing this massive democratic void.”
Working relationship?
Mr Juncker seemed to suggest that he would only have a good relationship with Johnson as Prime Minister if we stayed in Europe. He stated “The atmosphere of our talks would be better if Britain is staying in the European Union.”
BRUSSELS
Mr Johnson, who spent several years in Brussels as EU correspondent for the Daily Telegraph before embarking into politics, dismissed both EU figures as “unelected bureaucrats”.
He labeled the aspirations and plans of Brussel as plans for “a federal united states of Europe”.
Arguing that the EU is “deeply anti-democratic”, he urged politicians to “be straight with the public” that the 23 June referendum “is their last chance really to go for a different approach”.
