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 Switching significantly to German during a keynote address ahead
of a parliamentary vote to endorse his new European Commission,
Juncker said investment was vital to restoring growth and creating
jobs. Germany, Europe's dominant economy, is resisting calls for it
to spend more to kick-start growth.
Juncker, a conservative former prime minister of Luxembourg,
stressed, however, that, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel has
said, that much of the 300 billion euros should come from private
investors and that governments should continue to contain their
budget deficits.
"If you give us your support today, we will present the jobs, growth
and investment package before Christmas," Juncker told parliament in
Strasbourg, adding that investment should focus on improving
economic efficiency, not short-term spending.
Berlin has been resisting calls from other euro zone states and
beyond for it to increase public investment spending to rekindle
economic growth on the continent.
 Juncker also said that the European Union's budget rules that limit
the size of government deficits and public debt will not be
weakened. The Commission is preparing a review of the rules and
their effectiveness with a report due by the middle of December,
while France and Italy are pushing for more leniency in required
budget consolidation efforts.
"The rules will not be changed," Juncker said. "But they can be
implemented with a degree flexibility."
Investment, he said, was only one part of a three-pillar strategy,
along with structural reforms of national economics and renewed
fiscal credibility for governments.
VOTE
The major parties in parliament are set to endorse the 28-strong new
Commission in a vote after noon (1000 GMT) and the new executive
will take office on Nov. 1, replacing that led by outgoing President
Jose Manuel Barroso.
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Juncker pledged a "very political" team that would focus during its
five-year mandate on carrying out major programs while leaving
lesser matters to national governments - a key demand from Britain,
where there are strong demands for the country to quit the EU.
He said a new, two-tier hierarchy Commission whose number has soared
with the expansion of the EU to 28 member states, was designed to
make it more efficient and to break down "parochial attitudes" in
which commissioners pursued individual projects. A new layer of
vice-presidents would coordinate them.
Acknowledging the surge in anti-EU sentiment during elections to the
parliament in May, Juncker said the Union had to show Europeans it
was working in their interests.
"Citizens are losing faith," he said.
"Extremists on the left and right are nipping at our heels. Our
competitors are taking liberties. It is time we breathed a new lease
of life into the European project."
He stressed that economic improvement was vital: "Either we succeed
in reducing unemployment. Or we will have failed."
(Reporting by Robin Emmott, Alastair Macdonald and Jan Strupczewski
in Brussels; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; editing by Robin Emmott)
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