|
Sitting in a studio decked out as a colorful apartment, European
Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker took questions from
three German, French and Polish budding video stars, one with
more than a million followers on YouTube.
Juncker admitted he had little interest in social media but
denied he was above ordinary people.
"I'm not a movie star. Have I kissed you?" Juncker told his
Polish interviewer. "Why not now?", he said, standing up to kiss
him on the cheek.
Juncker has faced accusations in European media that he drinks
too much and, as a 61-year-old smoker, is in no shape to run an
EU executive overseeing legislation affecting 500 million
Europeans. A Twitter hashtag #AskJuncker set up for the
broadcast was peppered with anti-EU comments.
Juncker denied he had a drinking problem in a separate interview
with the French newspaper Liberation on Tuesday, saying he
sometimes stumbles in public because of a car accident in the
1980s. The subject did not come up in the hour-long YouTube
broadcast.
Wearing a purple tie, relaxed and sharing jokes in English,
French and German, Juncker said was dealing with a range of
issues, from the rise in militant attacks in Europe to corporate
tax evasion.
He also spoke emotionally about his father, a veteran of the
second world war who died this year. Juncker said young people
needed to defend the idea of a united Europe.
"My father was obliged to serve in World War Two. He experienced
the lack of Europe ... Today it is a question of the future (of
Europe)," Juncker said to a question from YouTube celebrity
Jonas, a 19-year-old German with more than a million followers
on YouTube.
(Reporting by Robin Emmott, editing by Larry King)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
