EU will move forward, he asserts

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, in a flagship speech on Wednesday, declared the “wind is back in Europe’s sails” after last year’s shock Brexit vote, an act he insisted Britain would regret.

In his annual State of the Union address, Mr. Juncker said the troubled bloc had become more united in the past 12 months and economic growth was picking up.

The EU should seize the momentum to deepen integration and sign new trade deals around the world, Mr. Juncker told the European Parliament.

Defying eurosceptics, the former Luxembourg Premier called for more states to join the euro and the passport-free Schengen area and proposed a single EU President and Finance Minister.

Mr. Juncker did not utter the word “Brexit” until the very end of his 80-minute speech, saying that “we will regret it, but you will regret it too”, earning jeers from British eurosceptics in the chamber. “We will move forward — because Brexit is not everything, because Brexit is not the future of Europe,” the veteran politician added.