BRUSSELS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and visiting French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Wednesday hailed the Franco-German consensus on revamping the EU.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Philippe following their talks at the Commission headquarters, Juncker stressed the Franco-German consensus, reached at a meeting in Germany's Meseberg Tuesday, reflected the Commission's own ideas.
"France and Germany for once have joined us in the same effort with the same dynamism," he said.
Philippe, for his part, depicted the Meseberg meeting as "a meeting of historic nature", stressing that he saw it as a breakthrough "which enables us to provide a Franco-German response to the challenges facing the European Union."
During the Meseberg meeting, which Juncker also attended, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed on a series of issues which will serve as the basis on EU summit late this month for further negotiations and major achievements.
According to the statement released after the two leaders' talks, Germany and France are to "open a new chapter."
The two leaders agreed that that EU should adopt a united approach to asylum-seekers. Common criteria are needed to determine who is and who is not granted asylum, they said.
Macron won Merkel's backing on creating a multi-billion eurozone investment budget for balanced economic development of the bloc, which will be operational from 2021.
Both Germany and France want to reduce the power of EU commissioners, and they ensure that there will be fewer commissioners in the future, according to the statement.