In an interview with RTL Today, the former Prime Minister and ex-President of the European Commission stated that he was not opposed to "discovering new sources of income". However, he argued that such measures needed to be cautiously prepared.
In his answer, Juncker was referring to proposals made by the president of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV), Frank Engel, at the end of August.
Engel had previously suggested higher taxation of large fortunes as a way of dealing with the coronavirus crisis. Among other things, he criticised that while the state had to take on more and more debt, major real estate owners were increasing their wealth without putting in any work.
Juncker warned that if measures proposed by party colleagues were ill-prepared, they would lead to more uncertainty. Instead, the former Prime Minister advised to debate them in an "atmosphere of general consensus". A consensus which, according to Juncker, was however not in sight.
In regard to public debt, Juncker stated that Luxembourg could afford the increasingly high levels of public debt, as long as the money was being used to fund future-oriented investments such as healthcare, research, or defence.
Distributing funds carelessly and at random would be a "disaster" and put future generations at a disadvantage.
The entire interview with Jean-Claude Juncker will be made available on RTL Today next week. In it, Juncker discusses, among other things, his political career and topics related to Europe, but also answers a number of questions submitted by RTL readers and listeners.
