EU President Jean Claude Juncker has complained again that unlike the US President he doesn't have his own plane, and said it is 'ridiculous' there are so few women at the top levels of European politics.
In a wide-ranging interview the outgoing head of the European Commission also compared German Chancellor Angela Merkel to a 'lovable work of art', implied Commissioners don't all deserve their lifelong pensions, and said he hoped that 20 years from now people would have greater 'respect and affection' for the EU.
And he said he had been living in a 50 square metre (540 sq ft) hotel room which left him taking meetings at other leaders' residence because, he said, 'I can’t talk to official visitors sitting on my bed.'
Mr Juncker told Bild magazine: 'The Commission President doesn’t have a residence. I have been living in a hotel apartment measuring 50 square metres for 3250 euro [per month]. Donald Tusk doesn’t have a residence either, by the way.'
He was quick to add: 'The NATO Secretary-General, on the other hand, lives in a stately home, and invites us there sometimes when we need a rest. All the ambassadors have residences too - I know many of them.'
The President of the European Commission said he 'can't talk to official visitors sitting on my bed' after describing his 50-square-metre hotel room
Explaining he had spent time 'visiting', he went on: 'The biggest problem was that I couldn’t invite anyone home. I can’t talk to official visitors sitting on my bed' On the other hand, when I flew to visit them by commercial airliner, I was always invited to their private residences.
'When I was talking to Donald Trump, I was constantly looking at my watch so that I wouldn’t miss my flight home. Trump kept saying, "Your ‘plane can wait!", he didn’t realise that I didn’t have my own aeroplane.'
This is not the first time he has complained about not having his own private jet.
In 2014, while campaigning for the position of President of the European Commission, he tweeted: 'The Americans have Air Force One. I don't. But I am still campaigning all over Europe! #withJuncker'
He used private jets for almost half of his official visits in 2018, with one overnight trip to Tunisia racking up a bill of £32,000. This despite EU laws which ban 'air taxis' unless there are no other flights available. Mr Juncker chartered private jets for 21 out of 43 official trips between January and November.
He sparked fury when, in 2017, it emerged he chartered a £24,000 private jet to Rome with a delegation of nine.
In 2014, while campaigning for the position of President of the European Commission, he tweeted: 'The Americans have Air Force One. I don't. But I am still campaigning all over Europe! #withJuncker'
Mr Juncker also touched on Commissioners' gender and pensions in the Bild interview. Only nine of the 28 Commissioners are women.
He said: 'When I put my Commission together five years ago, the Member States only proposed one woman. I made sure that at least nine women had posts out of the twenty-eight.
'I agree, this situation is ridiculous, there are still too few women. That applies to all the other top jobs in the EU.
'Sixty percent of all graduates are women, so the minimum is that half the Commissioners should be female. “
And he implied golden goodbyes should cease or be tempered, explaining that five Commissioners have been elected MEPs, so member states have the right to propose replacement Commissioners for the remaining five months of the Commission's term.
He said: 'This would cost the European taxpayer a million euro per Commissioner, for relocation, staff and the lifelong pension which every Commissioner gets, no matter how long he or she has been in office, because the Member States have decided that this is so. I’m trying to stop this.'
One of the Commission President's most important relationships is with the leader of the EU's biggest economy, Germany, and with Chancellor Angela Merkel having said she will not seek re-election at the end of her terms in 2021, Mr Junkcer reflected he was 'sad' she would be 'taken' from him.
Asked what he would miss most he said: 'She is a lovable work of art, and I feel sad when a work of art is taken from me. But that won’t happen any time soon.'
He was quick to doge any blame for Brexit, saying: 'It’s too easy to blame the Commission President for everything. The UK government is responsible for Brexit.'
But asked whether he should take some responsibility for the rise of populism across Europe during his tenure as Commission President, he said: 'Governments have a habit of congratulating themselves for what goes right and blaming Brussels for what goes wrong. It’s no wonder that anti-European tendencies are on the rise.'
Mr Juncker and Theresa May. He said the UK government was responsible for Brexit, not the EU, then insisted national governments were too quick to shift blame to the EU
Mr Juncker said his most difficult time had been the Greek bailout and the hardest world leader to speak with was President Trump, adding that he would advise his successor to establish an EU-wide department for countering 'fake news'.
He said he hoped that 20 years from now there was more integration bnetween peoples of Europe and warmer feelings about the EU itself.
Asked about the future he told Bild: 'I would like people to treat the EU with greater respect and affection instead of constantly doing it down.
'I would also like the Member States to try to learn more about each other. I am sad that the Luxembourgers know nothing about the Sami and the Bavarians nothing about the Sicilians.
'After all, we have a common European destiny.'