Jean-Claude Juncker: US Sanctions on Iran will not Remain without Effect

US sanctions on Iran will not remain without effect. The EU has the task of protecting European small and medium-sized enterprises. We now have to act and start the process of returning to a 1996 regulation on exterritorial sanctions in the EU, EC President Jean-Claude Juncker said on 17^th of May at the press conference after the EU-Western Balkans summit.

This has to be done and we should not wait. We allow the EIB to mediate for the investment of European businesses in Iran. The EC will continue its cooperation with Iran. And the Energy Commissioner will be in Iran to track our ties and exchange with the Iranian authorities, Juncker added.

We want an unlimited exemption from the proposed tariff measures, said the EC President in connection with trade and relations between the EC and the US.

Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission: If Europe gets an unlimited exemption from the proposed measures for tariffs, we are ready to start negotiations with our transatlantic partners. We want to deepen energy cooperation, we want voluntary cooperation between regulators. We are ready, together with the United States, if they wish, to discuss a reform of the world trade organization. And provided that these exemptions are permanent, we are ready to discuss how to improve access to markets for industrial products, especially cars and liberalization of government procurement. We will not negotiate with Damocles sword hanging over our heads, said Juncker.