GETTY Jean-Claude Juncker could be facing the axe

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The fuming German chancellor is planning to wield the axe on the bungling bureaucrat, who is facing calls from across the continent to resign. Senior ministers in Berlin have been dismayed by Mr Juncker's confrontational approach to Britain over the last fortnight and now believe he is "part of the problem".

Mrs Merkel is said to be particularly perturbed by the unpopular Commission president using the Brexit result to "gloat" and push for further EU integration. Crowing interviews he has given trying to marginalise and provoke Britain have proved the final straw, and she has now decided to sack him within the next year.

EPA Angela Merkel is set to 'deal with' the EU Commission president

AFP Mr Juncker is facing calls to resign from across the continent

Whilst the German supremo does not alone have the power to oust Mr Juncker from his position, losing her confidence would be a hammer blow and it is unlikely other states will seek to keep him in place. In particular there is fury and bewilderment in Berlin at his decision to welcome Nicola Sturgeon to Brussels and then talk openly on German television encouraging Scottish and Northern Irish independence. And Mrs Merkel, who is under intense pressure from industry chiefs to secure a free trade deal with Britain, has come to the conclusion that his poisonous presence could torpedo upcoming exit talks.

EPA German ministers have been dismayed by his decision to meet Nicola Sturgeon

REUTERS They are also furious about his 'gloating' over Brexit

Chancellor Merkel will eventually have to deal with this next year German minister

A senior minister close to the German leader said: "Juncker has time and again acted against the common interest and his reaction to the British referendum has been very damaging. "This is not a time for institutional bickering, but the pressure for him to resign will only become greater and Chancellor Merkel will eventually have to deal with this next year." Mrs Merkel is far from the first EU leader to call for Mr Juncker's head, but if she goes through with the threat she will be by far the most significant. Support for the beleaguered Brussels chief appears to be ebbing away fast in Germany with the influential Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper urging him to resign in a recent editorial. It wrote: "Juncker once again shows in a fatal way how little he sees himself to be a president of the Commission that represents the whole of the EU."

Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Hungary, who have all been appalled by the chief bureaucrat's open calls for "more Europe" now that Britain has left, are also pushing for his resignation. And there are growing signs that Mr Juncker's iron grip on Brussels is beginning to loosen. He recently lost a battle against EU leaders to get his right-hand man, Martin Selmayr, appointed as the chief Brexit negotiator, with member states instead insisting on Belgian diplomat Didier Seeuws.

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