Jean-Claude Juncker

Juncker was born in Redange and spent the majority of his childhood in Belvaux. His father, Joseph "Jos" Juncker (1924-2016), was a steel worker and Christian trade unionist who was forcibly conscripted into the German Wehrmacht during World War II, following the Nazi occupation of Luxembourg, and fought on the Eastern Front. Juncker has often remarked that the horrors of war he heard from his father's experiences had a profound influence in shaping his views on the need for European reconciliation and integration. His mother was born Marguerite Hecker. He cites the assassination of John F. Kennedy as his first political memory. Juncker studied at the Roman Catholic école apostolique (secondary school) at Clairefontaine on the edge of Arlon in Belgium, before returning to Luxembourg to study for his Baccalaureate at Lycée Michel Rodange. He joined the Christian Social People's Party in 1974. == Career in national politics ==

Early years in 1985 Following Juncker's graduation from the University of Strasbourg, he was appointed as a Parliamentary Secretary. He later won election to the Chamber of Deputies for the first time in 1984 and was immediately appointed to the Cabinet of Prime Minister Jacques Santer as Minister of Labour. In the second half of 1985, Luxembourg held the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Communities, permitting Juncker to develop his European leadership qualities as chair of the Social Affairs and Budget Councils. Juncker's second election to Parliament, in 1989, saw him gain prominence within the European Union; Juncker chaired the Council of Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN), during Luxembourg's 1991 presidency of the Council of the European Communities, becoming a key architect of the Maastricht Treaty. 1997 brought the rotating presidency of the European Council to Luxembourg, during which time Juncker championed the cause of social integration in Europe, along with constituting the so-called "Luxembourg Process" for integrated European policy against unemployment. He also instigated the "Euro 11", an informal group of European finance ministers for matters regarding his Economic and Monetary Union ideals. For all of these initiatives, he was honoured with the Vision for Europe Award in 1998. Juncker succeeded in winning another term as prime minister in the 1999 election, although the coalition with the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party was broken in favour of one with the Democratic Party. After the 2004 election, the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party became the second largest party again, and Juncker again formed a coalition with them. on 29 October 2009 Juncker supported the 2011 military intervention in Libya. Juncker added that he wanted NATO to take control of coalition military efforts in Libya as soon as possible. On 19 November 2012, RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg aired a story alleging that the former head of the State Intelligence Service (SREL), Marco Mille, had used a wristwatch to covertly record a confidential conversation with Juncker in 2008. According to the report, although Juncker had later found out about the recording, he took no action against Mille and allowed him to leave the service in 2010 for a position with Siemens. A transcript of the conversation was published by ''D'Lëtzebuerger Land'', which highlighted the disorganised state of the secret service, mentioned links between Grand Duke Henri and MI6 and referred to the "Bommeleeër" scandal. On 4 December 2012, the Chamber of Deputies voted to set up a Parliamentary Inquiry into allegations of SREL misconduct including the illegal bugging of politicians, purchase of cars for private use and allegations of taking payments and favours in exchange for access to officials. The inquiry heard from witnesses who claimed that SREL had conducted six or seven illegal wiretapping operations between 2007 and 2009, as well as covert operations in Iraq, Cuba and Libya. The report concluded that Juncker had to bear political responsibility for SREL's activities, that he had been deficient in his control over the service and that he had failed to report all of the service's irregularities to the enquiry commission. Juncker himself denied wrongdoing. on 22 August 2012 After a seven-hour debate in the Chamber of Deputies on 10 July, the withdrawal of support from the Christian Social People's Party's coalition partner, the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP), forced Juncker to agree to new elections. Alex Bodry, President of LSAP and Chair of the Parliamentary Inquiry into SREL, declared his lack of confidence in Juncker, saying: "We invite the prime minister to take full political responsibility in this context and ask the government to intervene with the head of state to clear the path for new elections." ==Career in European politics==

Presidency of the Eurogroup In 2004, the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers decided to replace the rotating chairmanship with a permanent president. Juncker was appointed as the first permanent president and assumed the chair on 1 January 2005. He was re-appointed for a second term in September 2006. Under the Lisbon Treaty, this system was formalised and Juncker was confirmed for another term. Juncker stepped down on 21 January 2013, when he was succeeded by Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem. and José Manuel Barroso During his period as "Mr. Euro", the group was instrumental in negotiating and supervising bailout packages for the countries that faced bankruptcy: Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus. Juncker was also an outspoken proponent of enhanced internal cooperation and increased international representation of the group. In a debate in 2011, during the height of the eurozone crisis, Juncker responded to a conference-goer's suggestion to increase the openness of the strategy discussions in the eurogroup, by stating: "When it becomes serious you have to lie". Scholars of financial markets have remarked that the quote is often taken out of context by critics; best practice amongst monetary policy committees in most states is to keep negotiations on decisions confidential to prevent markets from betting against troubled countries until they are finalised. This need is complicated by the Eurozone's arrangements, in which policy negotiations are held in high-profile international summits of Eurozone finance ministers, where leaks of ongoing negotiations may potentially put "millions of people at risk". Presidency of the European Commission (2014–2019) For the first time in 2014, the President of the European Commission was appointed under the new provisions established with the Treaty of Lisbon, which had entered into force after the 2009 Elections to the European Parliament, on 1 December 2009. Juncker's aide Martin Selmayr played a central role in his campaign and later during his presidency as Juncker's campaign director, head of Juncker's transition team and finally as Juncker's head of cabinet (chief of staff). Primary election Almost all major European political parties put forward a lead candidate, or spitzenkandidat for their respective election campaign. At the election Congress of the European People's Party (EPP), held in Dublin on 6–7 March, Jean-Claude Juncker was elected the party's lead candidate for President of the commission, defeating Michel Barnier. The congress also adopted the EPP election manifesto, which was used by Juncker during his campaign. Election campaign In the main debate between the candidates, transmitted live throughout Europe on 16 May via the European Broadcasting Union, all candidates agreed that it would be unacceptable if the European Council would propose someone as Commission President who had not publicly campaigned for the position ahead of the election. In the 22–25 May elections, the EPP won the most parliamentary seats of all parties (221 of 751) but was short of a majority in its own right. Institutional approval On 27 May, the leaders of five of the seven political groups of the parliament issued a statement that Jean-Claude Juncker, being the lead candidate of the party which won a plurality of the seats, should be given the first attempt to form the required majority to be elected Commission president. Only the ECR and EFD disagreed to this process. , EPP summit in Brussels, 20 March 2014 Later on 27 May, the European Council gave its president, Herman van Rompuy, the mandate to start consultations with the group leaders in the European Parliament to identify the best possible candidate. Having less influence over the appointment than under pre-Lisbon law, the Council instead made use of its right to set the strategic priorities and included discussions with Parliament leaders and Council members alike for a strategic agenda for the upcoming period in Rompuy's mandate. During the consultations, Juncker and the EPP agreed to cooperation with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), the second largest group in the new parliament, as well as secured the backing of all but two member state leaders. In return for their support, the centre-left group and state leaders secured promises of a shift in focus away from austerity towards growth and job creation for the coming period, as well as promises of some of the top jobs. in Brussels in March 2015 in June 2015 and German chancellor Angela Merkel in November 2015 leaders in Japan, 26 May 2016 with Juncker and Donald Tusk at the EU-India Summit, Brussels, 2016 and U.S. president Donald Trump in Brussels, 25 May 2017 in Brussels in June 2019 The European Council officially proposed Juncker to Parliament as a candidate for the presidency on 27 June, together with a strategic agenda that set out policy priorities for the upcoming Commission mandate period. For the first time, the nomination was not by consensus, but the European Council voted 26–2 to propose Juncker for the position. Voting against were British PM David Cameron (Conservative Party / AECR) and Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán (Fidesz / EPP), both of whom had frequently opposed Juncker during the election process. Prior to the vote, various media had reported the heads of government of Sweden, Netherlands and Germany were also having similar concerns regarding either the candidate himself, or the way the nomination process was conducted. This was however never confirmed by the politicians in question. Once Juncker had been nominated by the Council he started visiting all of the political groups of the European Parliament in order to explain his visions as well as gain their support in order to get appointed as Commission President. The purpose was also to show that he had understood some criticism levelled by Eurosceptics in Brussels. This was demonstrated when the former prime minister of Luxembourg told the ECR lawmakers that "[d]espite what you may read in the British press, I do not want a United States of Europe," as well as "I do not believe that Europe can be constructed against the nation state." On 15 July, Juncker presented his political programme to the European Parliament in plenary. Following a debate, the MEPs appointed Juncker to the position of Commission President with 422 votes in favour, well over the 376 required, and 250 votes against. Turkish membership of the European Union On 25 July 2016, Juncker said that Turkey was not in a position to become a member of the European Union in the near future and that accession negotiations between the EU and Turkey would be stopped immediately if the death penalty was brought back. ==Controversies==

In early November 2014, just days after becoming head of the commission, Juncker was hit by media disclosures—derived from a document leak known as LuxLeaks—that Luxembourg under his premiership had turned into a major European centre of corporate tax avoidance. With the aid of the Luxembourg government, companies transferred tax liability for many billions of euros to Luxembourg, where the income was taxed at a fraction of 1%. Juncker, who in a speech in Brussels in July 2014 promised to "try to put some morality, some ethics, into the European tax landscape", was sharply criticised following the leaks. A subsequent motion of censure in the European Parliament was brought against Juncker over his role in the tax avoidance schemes. The motion was defeated by a large majority. During his tenure, Juncker also oversaw the 2014 opening of the Luxembourg Freeport, which former German Member of European Parliament Wolf Klinz dubbed "fertile ground for money laundering and tax evasion". In January 2017, leaked diplomatic cables showed that Juncker, as Luxembourg's prime minister from 1995 until the end of 2013, blocked EU efforts to fight tax avoidance by multinational corporations. Luxembourg agreed to multinational businesses on an individualised deal basis, often at an effective rate of less than 1%. In July 2017, Juncker described the European Parliament as "ridiculous" after only a few dozen MEPs came to attend a debate dedicated to evaluating Malta's time holding the 6-month term rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU, accusing MEPs of showing a lack of respect for smaller EU countries. Although rebuked for his remark by the Parliament's president, Antonio Tajani, Juncker responded, "I will never again attend a meeting of this kind." ==Personal life==

In addition to his native Luxembourgish, Juncker is fluent in English, French and German, and also speaks Latin. Juncker suffers from sciatica attacks following his 1989 car accident, which causes him occasional unsteadiness while walking. A video of Juncker stumbling and receiving assistance from several EU politicians at a NATO leaders' event in July 2018 prompted comments about his health, though his spokesman dismissed the concerns. Speculations about alcoholism surrounded Juncker for several years and have been discussed by several high-profile EU politicians. In 2014, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, at the time Dutch minister of finance, described Juncker in an interview as a "heavy smoker and drinker", but later apologized for his comments. Juncker himself has always denied these allegations in interviews, describing them as hurtful. The couple have no children. == Awards and decorations ==

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