Juncker’s comments, which came after weeks of fierce public criticism of Barroso - a former prime minister of Portugal and head of the European Union executive for a decade to 2014 - and the current commission’s attitude to his appointment, came in a live online interview by young EU citizens, organised by the broadcaster Euronews.
Juncker noted that in July he had said that he saw Barroso going to Goldman Sachs as a problem, because of its role in the sub-prime crisis of 2008.
“I said, and I repeat it: I have no problems with him taking up a role at a private bank, but not at that one!”, Juncker said, in a reference to comments he had made in an interview with the Belgium newspaper Le Soir.
In that interview, Juncker did note that “Goldman Sachs was one of the entities that contributed, wittingly or unwittingly, to the birth of an enormous financial and economic crisis in the course of the years 2007, 2008 and 2009,” he had said in that interview. Barroso is, he added, “an honest guy” and “a friend”.
Goldman Sachs was among the leading banks in slicing and dicing risky US mortgage debt, creating paper assets whose massive loss of value ultimately caused the financial crash and an unprecedented global recession.
The news on 8 July of Barroso’s appointment as president of Goldman Sachs International, the bank’s UK-based arm, caused a wave of indignation, with several petitions organised by EU citizens and even European Commission employees.
France’s president, François Hollande, described Barroso’s move as “morally unacceptable”.
For two months the commission, which Barroso led for a decade to 2014, reacted only by noting that Barroso had respected the code of conduct for European commissioners in waiting 18 months after leaving his post before accepting a job with a private employer. This week, however, Juncker sought a clarification from Barroso on the terms of his contract with the bank, and it was made known that the former commission president would be treated as a lobbyist rather than as a former commissioner.
Barroso responded by accusing the EU of discriminating against him.