The former prime minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker has been given a boost in his campaign to become the next president of the European Commission after German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged her support for him.<br /><br />Until her comments at a Catholic conference in the Bavarian city of Regensburg, Merkel had remained tight-lipped on the issue.<br /><br />“It turns out that the European People’s Party with their top candidate Jean-Claude Juncker has become the strongest political force, and therefore he should become the president of the European Commission,” said Angela Merkel.<br /><br />Juncker’s European People’s Party didn’t manage to win a majority in the elections and in order to become the president of the European Commission he needs the support of other political groups.<br /><br />His main rival is the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, who is also a member of the Social Democrats, the partners in the grand coalition government that Merkel leads in Germany.
