Merkel Reiterates Support For Juncker To Take Top EU Job

Merkel_Juncker — (R-L) European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean Claude Juncker, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa and his companion Urska Bacovnik, Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso attend a ceremony to mark Slovenia's entry to the euro zone, in Ljubljana on Jan. 15, 2007. Reuters/Tina Kosec

(Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel restated her support on Tuesday for Jean-Claude Juncker to become president of the European Commission after meeting EU leaders critical of the Luxembourgian, but said the issue was not central to talks.

"We have all said that staff decisions were not central to our discussions here but that we want to do what has been done so little so far: discuss content, which is important for the citizens," Merkel said during a news conference.

"But ... I have said that for me Jean-Claude Juncker is the candidate for the office of Commission president and that I want to have him as the Commission president. That's what I said in Germany and I'll say that here but it wasn't our main topic."

Merkel was meeting Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Dutch premier Mark Rutte and British Prime Minister David Cameron, a staunch opponent of Juncker becoming Commission president.

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