PRIME MINISTER JUNCKER DISCUSSES THE EU

C O N F I D E N T I A L LUXEMBOURG 000638 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/10/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL TU LU EUN SUBJECT: PRIME MINISTER JUNCKER DISCUSSES THE EU CONSTITUTION AND TURKISH ACCESSION REF: LUXEMBOURG 00613 Classified By: DCM Steven Kraft for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C/NF) During a private meeting with the Ambassador on December 11, Prime Minister Juncker expressed a pessimism concerning the future of the EU Constitution which contrasted with his generally more optimistic public comments. Noting the lack of effective governments in several EU countries, including those with relatively weak coalition governments, Juncker said that "putting Iraq back together would be easy compared to getting an EU Constitution in place." Although a fan of German Chancellor Merkel, Juncker said she was somewhat unrealistic about how far she could go with the German EU Presidency in such areas as the Constitution and reforming the system of EU directives. Juncker was also down on France and President Chirac, saying that lately France was being particularly difficult to work with. ¶2. (C) Prime Minister Juncker told Ambassador Wagner that the USG should put more pressure on Turkey to soften its position in order to make EU accession possible, saying that the USG should "be on Turkey" publicly and privately to compromise in order to gain EU accession. He added that Turkey had made several good overtures and he felt that the EU had a responsibility to reciprocate. Juncker noted that he follows the Turkey and Cyprus issues closely and was in regular touch with the relevant players (he said he had "called Cyprus three times" last week). Juncker also confirmed that while he and his government know that Turkey should be brought into the EU, Luxembourgers at large were not at all supportive of Turkey,s accession. ¶3. (SBU) Later the same day in a public speech at the University of Luxembourg, Juncker described what he sees as "a Europe in crisis." He opined that the European public has lost its "erotic feeling" for Europe writ large, explaining that its citizens have lost their zeal for EU expansion and institution building. Now, he said, EU leaders are ahead of their electorates in building the Union. When caught ahead of public opinion, Juncker said that national leaders often "blame Brussels" for unpopular positions and directives, regardless of whether those same leaders supported the issues during EU debate or not. He exhorted European leaders to reinvigorate the community idealism of a younger generation that has "forgotten the lessons of past European wars." ¶4. (C) Comment: The dean of EU Heads of Government, Juncker is an astute observer of EU politics and a strong advocate of the EU Constitution and greater integration generally. This makes his pessimism regarding the Constitution especially noteworthy. On Turkey, we believe the Prime Minister has the historical perspective to see the benefits of further integrating Turkey into Europe, and we expect that he will continue to quietly advocate compromise among all players to keep the accession process moving. WAGNER