Brexit: Jean-Claude Juncker not 'right man for the job' and should resign, says Czech foreign minister

UK vote to leave 'is a responsibility someone should have assumed', senior Czech politician says

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker (ARMIN WEIGEL/AFP/Getty Images)

European Commission chairman Jean-Claude Juncker is not the “right man for the job” and should resign, the Czech foreign minister has said.

Lubomir Zaoralek said someone in the EU should take “responsibility” for the vote of British citizens to leave the EU.

"Right now I can't see the European Commission chairman as the right man for the job," Mr Zaoralek told Czech television.

"I don't want to call on anyone [to resign], but... someone in the EU maybe should contemplate quitting, because [Brexit] is a responsibility someone should have assumed."

He also said the EU Commission president did not do enough to prevent the loss of Britain from the EU.

Mr Zaoralek said: "I would imagine the Commission is led by an honourable, trustworthy man who, in a situation when we are facing the loss of a leg or arm, might go to the country and tell the Britons: 'We want you to stay'."

However, during the bitter referendum campaign, many believed an appeal from the EU elite to Britons would have backfired, particularly in light of the poor response to President Obama’s warning the UK would go “straight to the back of the queue” if it voted for Brexit.

In addition, the minister said "the problem of European elites is bigger” than just Mr Juncker.

The Czech Minister was not the only political figure from a European nation to criticise aspects of the EU.

"We must put an end to this sad and finicky Europe,” French Prime Manuel Valls said at the weekend.

“Too often it is intrusive on details and desperately absent on what's essential.

"We must break away from the dogma of ever more Europe. Europe must act not by principle but when it is useful and pertinent."

European leaders have been sending mixed messages about how Brexit must now be implemented, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel stating the EU has "no need to be particularly nasty in any way" and did not need to rush the UK in its departure.

A monetary perspective was provided by Guenther Oettinger, the European Union's digital economy commissioner, who said Britain should act quickly to implement its departure from the European Union to limit the uncertainty rattling investors.

"The next step must come from London," Mr Oettinger, EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, told the Deutschlandfunk German radio station.

Every day of uncertainty was preventing investors from putting their funds into Britain and other European markets, Mr Oettinger said.