Will Juncker introduce the euro throughout the EU and other trending questions

By Euronews

Published on 13/09/2017 - 12:04

Find out the answers to the top questions about Juncker's State of Union address

Here are the five most popular questions that users of Google posed around the address and some facts to help answer them.

Will Juncker introduce the euro throughout the EU?

Juncker said he wants all EU states to join the euro, and that the European Commission will help them make the transition into the new currency.
“If we want the euro to unite rather than divide our continent, then it should be more than the currency of a select group of countries. The euro is meant to be the single currency of the European Union as a whole,” he said.
“Member states that want to join the euro must be able to do so. This is why I am proposing to create a Euro-accession Instrument, offering technical and even financial assistance,” he added.
The departure of the UK leaves Denmark as the only EU country with an official opt out from the euro. But while new members joining the European Union are obliged to commit to joining the euro, some like Sweden have resisted doing so.

Who is Juncker?

Jean-Claude Juncker is a Luxembourgouis politician who has been president of the European Commission since 2014. Before working as the EU’s top bureaucrat, Juncker served as prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013.

Will Romania and Bulgaria be brought into the Schengen area?

Juncker said the Schengen area of free movement should be opened to Bulgaria and Romania immediately to “strengthen the protection of our external borders.”
He added that Croatia should also be allowed to become a full Schengen member once it meets all of the criteria.
However, he would need approval from the other Schengen members who have reimposed their own border controls following the latest wave of terrorist attacks.