Jan Zahradil, who hopes to replace Jean-Claude Juncker, said the EU could have avoided Brexit by offering concessions.
ADVERTISEMENTBrexit was a “mistake of the EU,” a conservative candidate to replace Jean-Claude Juncker for Europe’s top job said Tuesday.
Jan Zahradil, president of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE), said the bloc had been wrong to refuse Britain concessions ahead of its 2016 referendum.
The Czech MEP was the latest among those vying to become president of the European Commission to appear on Euronews’ Raw Questions.
“Brexit was a mistake of the EU that allowed one of it's strongest and most successful members to leave,” Zahradil said. “I believe that if David Cameron was offered something during those first negotiations that he could've sold back home as a success or as a concession of the EU, there might be a different result of the referendum."
The heavy metal music fan wants to "retune the EU" in favour of member state governments, saying: “Sometimes states, national government national parliaments better able to find solutions.”
He also said the EU should be tougher on Iran and that a plan to be carbon neutral by 2050 was unrealistic.
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