Story highlights Jean-Claude Juncker chastises members on low turnout for Maltese leader's speech

Parliamentary officials: Few attended because no vote was scheduled on any issue

(CNN) Bickering within the European Union is as much part of life in the bloc as the rows between the 28 countries that belong to it.

But relations between the European Commission, the EU's executive, and the European Parliament took a turn for the worse Tuesday.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, called the assembly "ridiculous" after less than 5% of its 751 members turned up to hear Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

"The European Parliament is ridiculous, very ridiculous. I salute those who made the effort to be in the room. But the fact that there's about 30 members of Parliament present in this debate has sufficiently shown that Parliament is not serious," Juncker said.

"If Mr. Muscat was Mrs. Merkel, hard as that is to imagine, or Mr. Macron, a bit easier to imagine, we would have a full house," Juncker said, referring to the leaders of Germany and France, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron.

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