Juncker warns EU of 'humanitarian disaster' in Idlib

Europe must remain tolerant to avoid atrocities such as the "impending humanitarian disaster" in Syria's Idlib province, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Wednesday.

Delivering his final State of the Union speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Juncker said, "Europe must remain a tolerant continent... it will never become a fortress, turning its back on the world."

"Take a look around. What is happening in Idlib in Syria now must be of deep and direct concern to us all. We cannotremain silent in face of this impending humanitarian disaster -- which appears now all but inevitable," he said, adding:

"The conflict in Syria is a case in point for how the international order that served Europeans so well after the SecondWorld War is being increasingly called into question."

Addressing the Balkan EU accession issue, Juncker said the EU still needs a "forthright attitude" noting that EU enlargement is and remains a "success story".

"We must find unity when it comes to the Western Balkans... Should we not, our immediate neighborhood will be shaped by others."

The Luxembourg politician told MEPs that the EU must respond to the "many", not the "few".

Juncker said EU member states must remove any borders they have thrown up during migration crisis.

He also revealed a new EU alliance with Africa that could create 10 million jobs in Africa in the next five years.

He said Europe should "stop seeing the African-EU relationship from the sole prism of development aid."

He added that "such an approach is humiliating for Africa. Africa does not need charity, it needs a true and balanced partnership and Europe needs this just as much."

As for Brexit, Juncker said the EU "respects the British decision to leave our union, even though we continue to regret it deeply. But we also ask the British government to understand someone who leaves the union cannot be of the same privileged position."

"If you leave the Union, you of course, are no longer a part of our single market. And certainly no longer just parts of it."

"After 29 March 2019, the United Kingdom will never be an ordinary third country for us. The United Kingdom will always be a very close neighbour and partner, in political, economic and security terms," Juncker said.

Juncker called the EU members "to say No to unhealthy nationalism and Yes to patriotism," saying, "unchecked nationalism is riddled with poison and deceit".

Juncker sent a positive signal on May's Brexit proposal, known as the "Chequers" plan for the country residence where it was hammered out in July. It calls for Britain to stay in a free trade zone with the EU for goods, opposed at home by both supporters of closer ties and those who want a cleaner break.

"I welcome Prime Minister May's proposal to develop an ambitious new partnership for the future, after Brexit. We agree with the statement made in Chequers that the starting point for such a partnership should be a free trade area between the United Kingdom and the European Union," Juncker said.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called on Wednesday for the European Union to promote the euro as a global currency to challenge the U.S. dollar.

"We must do more to allow our single currency to play its full role on the international scene," Juncker told the European Parliament in Strasbourg as he presented his annual programme.

"It is absurd that Europe pays for 80 percent of its energy import bill – worth 300 billion euros a year – in U.S. dollars when only roughly 2 percent of our energy imports come from the United States," he said.

"It is absurd that European companies buy European planes in dollars instead of euro," he added.

While Norway prices its substantial supplies to the EU in euros, an EU official said, other countries use dollars. Among the most important of these are Gulf states and Russia.

"The euro must become the face and the instrument of a new, more sovereign Europe," Juncker said, as he called for the bloc to become more of a global player and exert more influence internationally with a unified stance.

Juncker also proposed to end seasonal clock changes in the EU starting next year.

"We all say in soap-box speeches that we want to be big on big things and small on small things. But there is no applause when EU law dictates that Europeans have to change the clocks twice a year," he was quoted as saying in a statement.

"Clock-changing must stop. Member states should themselves decide whether their citizens live in summer or wintertime", he added.

Violeta Bulc, the commissioner for transport, said in the statement that the Commission is proposing to put an end to seasonal clock changes as of next year.

Last month, the Commission published the results of an online public survey on clock change in Europe -- showing nearly 85 percent of the Europeans are in favor of putting an end to the bi-annual clock change.

The Commission's proposal will go to the European Parliament and the Council for their agreement.