The president of the European Commission admitted the majority of Britons never “had a sense of joy” when remembering the moment their country joined the EU in 1973. Mr Juncker, who is leaving his post in late 2019, revealed the lack of affection towards the union among British politicians has always been clear to him. He told Polish news outlet Rzeczpospolita: “I have been following British affairs for a very long time and when I spoke to my British colleagues as the Minister of Labour, the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister, I always had the impression that they did not feel comfortable in the Union.
He said: “They were always in favour of expanding the Union to the East.
“But today they complain about the effects of free movement of people, although they did not take advantage of the transition period when new countries were admitted to the Union in 2004.
“For the British, integration always consisted of economic profits.
“This is a business-based system for them, not values.
“So it is difficult to be surprised in such a system that when people are asked in a referendum whether they want to be in the Union, they say ‘no’.”
However, Mr Juncker also believes Brexit happened because of how the EU Referendum campaign was handled.
He continued: “This also happened because there was no real referendum campaign.
“With David Cameron, we agreed on 10, 12 pages to compromise on many issues, but this did not appear in the debate before the referendum.”
While saying he understands why Brexit happened, Mr Juncker advised other countries which may be feeling trapped within the union to follow Britain’s example.
While they may be going through a eurosceptic phase now, countries should consider the long-term interests of their countries rather than making decisions based on the current mood, he said.
Mr Juncker explained: “It may be a mistake, but I see the difference between the Governments that are in power at the moment and the long-term interests of the nations.
“And I do not think there is broad support for leaving the Union among the citizens of these countries.”