During a break in the meeting, Cameron's words became even more
pointed. "A face from the '80s cannot solve the problems of the next
five years," he said. Cameron added that if he is defeated in a vote by
the heads of other EU member states and Juncker becomes the head of the
Commission, that he could no longer guarantee that Britain will remain a
part of the EU. Participants at the meeting interpreted his remarks to
mean that a further defeat could destabilize his government in London to
the extent that an exit referendum would have to be held earlier than
planned and that it would very likely result in the British casting a no
vote on EU membership.
For conservative Polish Prime Minister Tusk, it was clear how the
majority was leaning and he wanted to force a decision that same night.
He proposed assigning Juncker the task of negotiating the composition of
the next EU Commission. That, he argued, would reveal the extent of
support for Juncker -- in other words, it would show whether a majority
was willing to oppose Cameron, Orbán and Reinfeldt. Everyone turned to
Merkel. She said that she would join Juncker's opponents and form a
"blocking minority," as she called it, if a vote were held. That would
have spelled the end of Juncker's candidacy, but the vote never
happened.
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