Jean-Claude Juncker: I Keep a List of People who have Crossed Me

There is no shortage of people who could make it into the bad books of the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, reports The Guardian.

There’s the whistleblower and journalists who uncovered tax avoidance on a vast scale in his native Luxembourg. And the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who has alarmed EU leaders with a series of authoritarian and populist policy announcements. A whole chapter could be devoted to perfidious Brits, chief among them Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage.

While the true list of his enemies remains secret, Juncker has revealed he keeps “a little black book” to note down the names of people who cross him. “I have a little black book called Le Petit Maurice where for the past 30 years I have noted when someone has betrayed me,” the EU president told the Belgian newspaper Le Soir.

Juncker explained it wasn’t very full, because people “rarely betray me”. He added: “I am not vengeful, but I have a good memory.” Juncker’s black book was a constant companion during his 18 years as prime minister of Luxembourg. He would tell people attacking him: “Be careful. Little Maurice is waiting for you.”

Although it is tempting to imagine Juncker has devoted pages to Nigel Farage, the EU president claimed he respected the Ukip leader and found him “very funny” and erudite.

But Juncker, known for his exuberant bear hugs and back-slapping greetings, was also at pains to explain he had not embraced Farage when they last met at the European parliament in Strasbourg. “I whispered something in his ear that was not a compliment. The photos gave the impression that I embraced him.”

He also said he regularly called Orbán a dictator to his face, and he described his humour as calculated, rather than cynical.

The Luxembourger took charge of the European commission in 2014 after almost two decades running the grand duchy, as well as eight years in charge of eurozone finance ministers’ meetings.