Before his resignation as Prime Minister of Luxembourg, on 11 July 2013, Juncker was the longest–serving head of any national government in the EU and one of the longest–serving democratically–elected leaders in the world.
In 2014, on his appointment to the EU's top job, Euractiv described him as "the veteran EU insider loathed by Britain" (as well as "[an] arch-pragmatist with a love of a drink and a dry sense of humour").
British Prime Minister David Cameron failed in a last-ditch attempt to block Juncker's appointment. Already committed to a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU, Cameron feared that Juncker was unlikely to promote the reforms that could convince British voters to remain inside it.
Juncker himself, however, insisted that "Despite what you may read in the British press, I do not want a United States of Europe."
© Haydn Thompson 2020