Storify « Dr Alf's Blog

English: The emblem of the European Council Latina: Insignia Consilium Europaeum ‪Norsk (bokmål)â¬: Det europeiske råds emblem (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I used Storify to pick up a series of leading articles following Jean-Claude Juncker‘s election yesterday. Check it out!

According to Juncker’s Twitter profile, he’s now <<the President-designate of the@EU_Commission. >>

Meanwhile, this week, the German media has been taking a hard look at Juncker, following his decision to continue with lucrative private speaking engagement during his election campaign. Is Juncker vulnerable to lobbying from powerful vested interest groups? Will we see the European Commission’s Twitter feed increasingly defending decisions like their promotion of Smartphone apps. for road traffic?

Personally, I think that Juncker is already a lame-duck. The big decisions will be increasingly taken by Europe’s real leaders, especially Germany‘s Angela Merkel. Europe’s leaders will want to reverse the creeping bureaucratization at the European Commission – it will be popular at home.

I suspect that Europe’s media will continue to look for dirt on Juncker. We have already had the UK tabloids questioning his drinking habits. The Economist has been critical of Juncker’s economic leadership during Europe’s crisis. Juncker must bear responsibility for Europe’s excessive austerity, and record numbers of unemployed millennials, especially in Southern Europe, like Greece and Spain.

This week, I have been dwelling on the absence of cohesive strategy from the European Commission. I fear that Juncker will be a political fixer, rather than strategist.

Any thoughts on Juncker, the lame-duck head of the European Commission?