The former Luxembourg prime minister has just been voted by Europe's mainstream right-wing parties to be their lead candidate ahead of May's European elections. Under new EU rules now in place this means the veteran politician could well become the president of the European Commission later this year. But for many observers Jean-Claude Juncker is indelibly linked to a dated vision of Europe that belongs to the last century. And as Dan Israel and Ludovic Lamant report, he is also closely identified with the financial secrecy of his native country.
His absence from the front line of European politics did not last long. In October 2013 parliamentary elections ended the 18-year-old rule of Jean-Claude Juncker as prime minister of Luxembourg. But just last week the veteran politician was back in the limelight once more when the European People's Party (EPP) – the umbrella group that represents most of the mainstream right-wing political parties in the European Union – voted him in as their leading candidate ahead of elections for the European Parliament on May 25th.
