Is Juncker telling the truth?

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The suggestion, made in the Guardian this morning that Jean-Claude Juncker, the former prime minister and finance minister of Luxembourg and now President of the European Commission was instrumental in Amazon locating its business activities in the Duchy should be a surprise to no one.

Firstly, the allegation is well sourced. It comes from the former Amazon employee responsible for doing the deal.

Secondly, it is only necessary to observe the amount of time UK prime ministers spend on doing trade deals to realise how important they think such activity is. Why this should have been different in Luxembourg is hard to imagine.

However, Juncker has denied any such involvement, saying that he was not the architect of the Luxembourg tax deals that so very obviously underpinned its economy and were the reason why it was the European state with the highest foreign direct investment despite its diminutive size. Such a claim has always looked implausible in that case; now it looks to be highly improbable.

Juncker will, no doubt, continue to deny involvement. Association with such deals would be toxic for any politician outside a tax haven. But that's exactly what he is now. And unless he can provide plausible answers on this issue he is effectively ruling himself unfit for office in the EU.

It's time for a little truth from Jean-Claude Juncker, or he has to go. And unless he's forthcoming the chance that others will make the decision for him appears to be growing by the day.


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