Jean-Claude Juncker makes bizarre Italy intervention after telling EU to respect voters

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Italy has been without a government since the March elections and when the populist coalition between the Five Star Movement and Lega attempted to form one they were vetoed over their choice of eurosceptic finance minister by Italian President Sergio Mattarella. With the crisis sending the euro crashing down, many senior EU figures have felt the need to comment, however, Mr Juncker has asked his colleagues to respect Italians when airing their views. But the bungling European Commission President may have forgotten his own criticism of his colleagues and dropped a clanger while making his own intervention. During a question and answer session, Mr Juncker said: “I am in deep love with Italy – bella Italia – but I am no longer accepting that everything which is going wrong in the south of Italy is explained by the fact that the European Commission would not do enough.

Italians have to take care of the poorer regions of Italy. That means more work, less corruption, seriousness Jean-Claude Juncker

“Italians have to take care of the poorer regions of Italy. That means more work, less corruption, seriousness.” This caused a storm in Brussels as other senior officials leapt to attack Mr Juncker for his comments. The Italian European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said: “I asked European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to immediately deny the comments attributed to him, because if they are true they would be unacceptable.” The Commission didn’t deny Mr Juncker had made the comments but moved to suggest his words were taken out of context.

A spokeswoman said: “The words attributed to President Juncker on Italy were taken out of context. “In a closed Q&A session, President Juncker was referring to the structural problems of the region of south Italy where the EU has done a lot to mobilise funding to spur growth and jobs. “The absorption of EU funds could be improved so that people can feel the results swiftly. “The EU will continue to engage with Italy in order to make sure that help arrives where it is most needed.” Mr Juncker’s intervention comes less than a week after he slapped the wrist of his budget Commissioner Gunther Oettinger after he suggested financial markets would show Italians how to vote. The German told broadcaster Deutsche Welle in an interview that the reaction of financial markets would show Italian voters not to vote for a populist government.