Cameron's attempt to block Juncker was 'cack-handed', says Ed Balls
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Version 0 of 1. David Cameron's efforts to stop the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European commission were a "cack-handed" attempt at blackmail and a catastrophe for the national interest, Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, has said. Balls said on Sunday he was "really worried" about Britain heading for the exit after the prime minister failed to stop Juncker getting the top job, having argued the former Luxembourg leader is too much of a federalist and not sufficiently in favour of reform. "I think this weekend was a catastrophe for Britain and the British national interest. I've never seen a negotiation so cack-handed," Balls said on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show. The shadow chancellor said Labour would also have fought against Juncker's appointment but Cameron "catastrophically" failed to persuade other leaders to back him. "He says in private they were supporting him and in public they didn't," he said. "What has happened when the British prime minister can't win an argument? Because he's associated with it, other people have to peel away. "We'd have gone in and said we need to have reform in Europe and we'd have said the test of this is which candidate can deliver that reform. I don't think Jean-Claude Juncker was the best candidate," said Balls. "To go in in that way and attempt to blackmail our European partners is drivel." Cameron has come in for intense criticism over his negotiating tactics as he tried to stop Juncker, who was confirmed on Friday as the favoured candidate of all EU member states apart from the UK and Hungary. Critics say the prime minister should not have made his antipathy to Juncker so clear from the start, which made it into a contest between Britain and the rest of Europe. There has been speculation that the issue could end up splitting the Conservative party, as a failure to secure reforms ahead of any referendum in 2017 could lead to a division into those fighting for Britain to leave the EU and those who want to stay in. Lord Lawson, the former Conservative chancellor, said Cameron now had "no negotiating hand to speak of", having made it clear that he did not want Britain to leave the EU. Daniel Hannan, the Eurosceptic Conservative MEP, said the appointment of Juncker had made it more likely that Britain would leave the EU. He told the BBC's Sunday Politics: "The idea we could restore substantive reforms, that we could get significant powers back, that we could be a sovereign country within a looser, more flexible union ... which I think does appeal to a lot of people, has plainly been closed off." However, a stream of Cameron's ministers hit the airwaves on Sunday to defend their leader's actions and insist that reform was still possible under Juncker. William Hague, the foreign secretary, disputed the idea that Britain's exit looked inevitable and argued that Cameron still had a chance of negotiating a new relationship with Brussels. "It would be far too early to say 'it doesn't look like we're going to get those reforms'," he said on the Andrew Marr Show. "The prime minister acknowledged that the task had got harder when he spoke after this on Friday, but look at the track record of the last few years. "He is the first prime minister to negotiate an actual reduction in the European budget, he vetoed the fiscal treaty three years ago, I vetoed the creation of the European military headquarters. These subjects – we are not threatened with these things. "Again, even in the European council conclusions on Friday, there was an acknowledgement that what has happened has got to be reviewed, that the concept of ever-closer union cannot just be applied to everybody in the same way, which is an argument we have been making, so yes, we can succeed in reforming Europe." David Lidington, the Europe minister, said Cameron was right to stick to his principles, while Grant Shapps, the Conservative party chairman, said the prime minister "did us proud". Earlier, Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, condemned other European leaders as cowardly for appointing Juncker when few believed he was the best person for the job. "As a result of cowardice yesterday from other leaders who weren't prepared to stand up in public and say the things they had said in private, they're going to have to work a lot harder to persuade the British people that Europe can be trusted with a proper reform agenda that's going to make it strong and competitive in a very tough global economy," Hunt said. |