Juncker says the notion of a European 'superstate' was 'total nonsense'

President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said accusations that he was looking to create a so-called European "superstate" were "total nonsense", and stated that many Britons had unfairly labelled him as a "stupid, stubborn federalist".

Juncker was responding to an earlier speech by foreign secretary Boris Johnson over his post-Brexit vision for the UK, where he said the EU wanted to form an "overarching European state", where he claimed that integration amongst the nations was deepening.

"British politicians, Labour and Tory, have always found that ambition very difficult," said Boris.

"It is hard to make it cohere with our particular traditions of independent parliamentary and legal systems that go back centuries," he continued.

When asked to comment on Johnson's remarks, Juncker said, "Some in the British political society are against the truth, pretending that I am a stupid, stubborn federalist, that I am in favour of a European superstate."

"I am strictly against a European superstate. We are not the United States of America, we are the European Union, which is a rich body because we have these 27, or 28, nations," he added.

Although Juncker had quite literally just shared his grand plan of a bigger EU budget and his ideal vision of a directly-elected EU president, Juncker concluded by saying, "the European Union cannot be built against the European nations, so this is total nonsense."