Question of the Week: What should be the ideal profile of the next president of the European Commission

Date: 04/03/04

JEAN-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg, is tipped to be at the top of the list of candidates to replace Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission. We asked him:

"What should the ideal profile be of the next president of the European Commission?"

Juncker: Somebody who must be able to dream without dreaming, who understands the complexity of Europe, because he or she grasps its history, somebody who must understand the mechanisms of new Europe: who is aware of the fact that without the entente between France and Germany, it would not work; somebody who will not tumble when France and Germany rise up together and who knows, however, that the Franco-German motor would not be sufficient to ignite the European dynamic anymore.

The next president should also be somebody who, while having solid European convictions, must comprehend the mood and the internal life of those [countries] who will become members on 1 May and who have had a different history since the Second World War - who continue to have a different take on the world.

This should also be somebody able to build a bridge between those who are members today and those who will join the EU tomorrow.

Question answered by Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg.