EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says he won't resign | John Thys/AFP via Getty Images Jean-Claude Juncker: I don’t care about bad press. And I’m not quitting! Commission president dismisses calls to resign after Brexit vote and brushes aside criticism.

Jean-Claude Juncker offered a sharp defense of his record during the Brexit campaign, rejecting calls for him to resign in the wake of a vote that could rob the European Union of one of its largest members and nearly one-fifth of its economy.

Asked by POLITICO after Wednesday’s European summit for his response to critics, including the Czech foreign minister, who say the Commission president should step down, Juncker said he saw no reason to do so.

“You think many people believe what it says in POLITICO. That is clearly not the case,” Juncker responded.

He appeared to be referring to a recent POLITICO article that explored the growing criticism in Brussels and many member countries of his stewardship.

“I have been encouraged by many colleagues not to allow myself to be discouraged by these articles. I don’t let the press either encourage or discourage me, either to incapacitate me or to drive me to highs and lows. That’s not my thing,” Juncker continued.

Juncker was largely silent during the British referendum campaign, a decision he said came at the urging of Prime Minister David Cameron and the British opposition. He drew parallels to the recent rejection of the EU’s association agreement with Ukraine by Dutch voters.

“Many wrote that the Dutch rejected the deal with the Ukraine because I got involved,” Juncker said. “Now it is said the British voiced their opposition to the EU because I didn’t get involved. You know what? I couldn’t care less.”

Juncker suggested that anyone who thinks he should resign should review his long political career.

“I’ve been politically active for 30 years, that’s why POLITICO can write that I’m an old model, old-fashioned,” he said. “I would suggest many younger people examine my life in detail. That would lead, though who is going to do this, to other conclusions.”

Council President Donald Tusk, standing next to Juncker at their closing press briefing, sprang to his defense, calling the question “unfair.” Juncker did “more than the maximum” in negotiating a new arrangement for the UK to stay in the EU.

“Jean-Claude Juncker is the last person we can accuse of being responsible for the negative result of the referendum in the U.K.,” Tusk said. “In fact, I can’t understand this kind of speculation.”

The Juncker exchange took place in German.

The Council’s interpreter had difficulty keeping up with Juncker’s rapid-fire response, however, leaving the translation incomplete and jumbled.

When another reporter asked Juncker to repeat his response in English, he refused. “I don’t think I have to explain this in different languages,” he said, adding that the POLITICO question wasn’t “unpleasant, it was just unnecessary.”