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Brexit win prompts calls for EU Commission president Juncker to resign

Time：2016-06-29 Browse：158 Author：RISINGSUN
THE president of the European Union`s executive arm, Jean-Claude Juncker, is facing calls to resign as some EU governments believe the European Commission bears responsibility for the outcome of last week`s referendum in which 52 per cent of UK voters supported an exit from the 28-nation bloc. 

German newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, published an op-ed on Monday saying Mr Juncker should stand down. Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said that Mr Juncker should have done more to persuade Britain to remain in the EU, reported Bloomberg. 

"At the moment, I don`t see the president of the European Commission as the right man for the job," Mr Zaoralek told Czech public television on Sunday. "But it`s not just Juncker. The problem of European elites is greater."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is convinced the former Luxembourg prime minister will make an "important contribution" to leading the EU and its member countries safely through the difficult period after the UK referendum on June 23, said Ms Merkel`s chief spokesman, Steffen Seibert.

Chief spokesman of the Brussels based commission, Margaritis Schinas, said Mr Juncker isn`t responsible for the British referendum result and doesn`t plan to resign. 

Mr Juncker helped renegotiate the UK`s ties to the EU in a February deal with UK Prime Minister David Cameron that was meant to help persuade Britons to remain in the bloc after 43 years of membership.

"The commission did not call a referendum," Ms Schinas said. "The ones who have to draw conclusions from this are the ones who called the referendum. We worked to create the conditions for a fair deal."