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Cameron says Juncker choice is 'bad day for Europe' Cameron vows to fight on in EU despite Juncker defeat
(about 1 hour later)
UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said the selection of Jean Claude-Juncker as the next European Commission president marks a "bad day for Europe". David Cameron has insisted his failure to stop the nomination of Jean-Claude Juncker for the EU's top job is not his "last stand" in Europe.
He said it was a "serious mistake" for EU leaders to give ground to the European Parliament after they backed Mr Juncker by 26 votes to two. The UK prime minister admitted it would make securing the reforms he wants harder but he vowed: "I am not going to back down."
He suggested that it would make it harder to reform the EU and it had "raised the stakes" over the process. EU leaders voted 26-2 to reject Mr Cameron's plea to prevent Mr Juncker becoming European Commission president.
Labour accused Mr Cameron of an "abject failure of leadership". Labour said it had been a "humiliating defeat" for a "toxic" prime minister.
Mr Cameron said the selection of Mr Juncker, whom he regards as an outdated Brussels insider committed to closer political union, was "a bad day for Europe".
The prime minister needs to convince his fellow EU leaders to allow Britain to take powers back from Brussels if he is to make good on his pledge to hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the 28-nation bloc.
'Tough fight'
But he hit back at claims the defeat over Mr Juncker leaves him isolated and his reform plans in tatters, telling reporters: "This is an important stand but it is far from being the last stand.
"My colleagues on the European Council know that I am deadly serious about EU reform - but I keep my word that, if I say I am not going to back down, I won't.
"This is going to be a long, tough fight, and frankly sometimes you have to be ready to lose a battle in order to win a war."
The UK and Hungary were the only two countries to oppose the former Luxembourg leader in an unprecedented vote on whether he should be nominated for the EU's top job.The UK and Hungary were the only two countries to oppose the former Luxembourg leader in an unprecedented vote on whether he should be nominated for the EU's top job.
Mr Juncker, who must be endorsed by the European Parliament before taking the role, was the preferred candidate of the European People's Party (EPP), which is the largest group in the European Parliament.Mr Juncker, who must be endorsed by the European Parliament before taking the role, was the preferred candidate of the European People's Party (EPP), which is the largest group in the European Parliament.
'Career insider'
But Mr Cameron has argued that it should be directly elected EU leaders, not the Parliament, who make the decision on who heads the EU's executive body and this should be done on the basis of a consensus.But Mr Cameron has argued that it should be directly elected EU leaders, not the Parliament, who make the decision on who heads the EU's executive body and this should be done on the basis of a consensus.
By opposing Mr Juncker, Mr Cameron said he had been standing up for an important principle on who made the key decisions in Europe and he felt "totally comfortable" about his actions. 'Career insider'
While he respected the decision, he said he believed Mr Juncker was the wrong man for the job and the process by which he was chosen would "undermine" the power of national Parliaments. By opposing Mr Juncker, Mr Cameron said he had been standing up for an important principle on who made the key decisions in Europe, and he felt "totally comfortable" about his actions.
He said he respected the decision of his fellow leaders but he believed Mr Juncker was the wrong man for the job and the process by which he was chosen would "undermine" the power of national parliaments.
"For a Europe crying out for reform, we have gone for a career insider," he told journalists."For a Europe crying out for reform, we have gone for a career insider," he told journalists.
Mr Cameron said he had taken a stand against a process that "had developed a momentum of its own", suggesting that his EU counterparts found themselves on a "conveyor belt". Britain's opposition Labour Party - which backed Mr Cameron in his opposition to Mr Juncker's candidacy - blamed the prime minister's poor diplomacy and inability to build alliances for his "humiliating defeat".
"I am not going to join some cosy consensus when you think something is wrong," he said. Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "On Europe, David Cameron has now become a toxic prime minister.
Mr Cameron said Europe had taken a "big step backwards" but that the UK would now redouble its efforts to call for wholesale reforms of the EU with "grit and intensity". "He cannot stand up for Britain's national interest because when he supports something, he drives our allies away."
"It is an important stand but it is far from the last stand. You have to be ready to lose a battle to win a war." The UK Independence Party, which wants Britain to leave the EU, joined the attack, saying the outcome represented "game, set and match to Brussels".
'Parlous situation' Its leader Nigel Farage said: "David Cameron's response to Juncker's appointment shows that he is a loser who has learned nothing.
The BBC understands that only of the EU's 27 other member states - believed to be Hungary - joined the UK in refusing to back Mr Juncker in an unprecedented vote on his candidacy. "If he had kept his cast-iron guarantee of a referendum on the Lisbon treaty he would not be in this parlous situation."
The Labour Party shares Mr Cameron's concerns about Jean-Claude Juncker's candidacy but said the prime minister had "burnt rather than built" the alliances necessary to produce a different outcome. But former Conservative minister Bernard Jenkin said Mr Cameron had "demonstrated that he is going to be a very tough negotiator" when it came to reform talks.
"David Cameron's basic errors of statecraft and diplomacy have let Britain down," said shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander. "He's not going to be a pushover. And that will have an effect. That will strengthen his credibility with our European partners."
"His excuses will fool nobody, least of all his own backbenchers. Defeat for David Cameron was not inevitable. Yet it was predictable."
UKIP leader Nigel Farage said: "David Cameron's response to Juncker's appointment shows that he is a loser who has learned nothing.
"If he had kept his cast-iron guarantee of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty he would not be in this parlous situation."
Former Cabinet minister John Redwood said it was not a worry if Mr Cameron was isolated as it was a "reminder" of the UK's fundamental differences with the rest of Europe.Former Cabinet minister John Redwood said it was not a worry if Mr Cameron was isolated as it was a "reminder" of the UK's fundamental differences with the rest of Europe.
"To those who say Mr Cameron should not have sought to block Mr Juncker because he could not win, I say you are wrong," he wrote on his blog."To those who say Mr Cameron should not have sought to block Mr Juncker because he could not win, I say you are wrong," he wrote on his blog.
"This episode has reminded all in the UK that the EU is not "coming our way". "This episode has reminded all in the UK that the EU is not 'coming our way'."
He added: "The battle over Mr Juncker was but the first skirmish in a long negotiation of a new relationship for the UK with the rest of the EU." Edward McMillan-Scott, a former Tory MEP who defected to the Lib Dems in 2010, said Mr Cameron's decision in 2009 to pull the Conservatives out of the EPP, which includes Germany's centre-right Christian Democrats, had rebounded on him.
Edward McMillan-Scott, a former Tory MEP who defected to the Lib Dems in 2010, said Mr Cameron's decision to pull the Conservatives out of the EPP, which includes Germany's centre-right Christian Democrats, in 2009 had rebounded on him.
"David Cameron burnt his boats by leaving the mainstream Christian Democrat, conservative group in the European Parliament, the party of Angela Merkel," he told the BBC News Channel."David Cameron burnt his boats by leaving the mainstream Christian Democrat, conservative group in the European Parliament, the party of Angela Merkel," he told the BBC News Channel.
"The consequence is that he has no real friends. He is not part of any network in Europe any more. Therefore, it is all telephone diplomacy and it has not worked.""The consequence is that he has no real friends. He is not part of any network in Europe any more. Therefore, it is all telephone diplomacy and it has not worked."
In other political reaction, the SNP said "it could do business" with Mr Juncker but the UK Independence Party said the outcome represented "game, set and match to Brussels". The SNP said that "it could do business" with Mr Juncker.