Official announcement imminent
Juncker resigns as Luxembourg PM
10/07/2013 - 9:47pm
Luxembourg's Prime Minister and former Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker is expected to officcially announce his resignation on July 11.
The development comes after his country's parliament said that Juncker, the world's longest serving democratically elected head of state, had failed to inform MPs of “irregularities and supposed illegalities” by the country’s secret services. MPs were investigating incidents that took place between 2004 and 2009 and, in a report on the matter by a special parliamentary committee, talked of leadership failure.
Juncker has been at the helm of Luxembourg for 18 years. On July 10 he was grilled for two-hour during which correspondents say he looked upset, his voice occasionally cracking, as he responded in detail to criticisms.
The allegations included illegal wiretaps, financial speculation by spies and questionable dealings with used cars by the Luxembourg Secret Service SREL.
"It's true the secret service wasn't my top priority," Juncker said during the hearing and added that he had pushed for reforms and made fighting terrorism and proliferation of weapons a priority.
The last time a Luxembourg government fell was in 1916. New elections will now have to be held by October.
Juncker is 58 years old. The son a a steelworker and unionist, he studied law and was elected to parliament in 1984. He succeeded Jacques Santer to the premiership when the latter became President of the European Commission in 1995.
As Luxembourg's Finance Ministers he chaired the EU's Council of Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) and is considered one of the architects of the Maastricht Treaty which turned the European Community into the European Union and led to the creation of the euro.
In 2005 he was chosen to head the council of the Eurogroup, the eurozone's finance ministers council, a position he retained until the start of 2013.
It was during this hive of eurocrisis-related activity that the parliamentary commission says he failed to adequately oversee Luxembourg's secret service. europe on line
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