Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte says the lack of unity over the choice of a new European Commission president is a serious matter for Europe.

‘It is a difficult moment,’ Rutte told reporters at the end of the European summit at which Luxemburg’s Jean-Claude Juncker was voted into the job.  As expected, British prime minister David Cameron forced a vote on the issue.

Britain and Hungary were the only two countries to vote against Juncker’s appointment. The Netherlands said last week it would vote in favour.

Rutte said he did not feel he had been blackmailed or forced into supporting Juncker, who was put forward by the European parliament after his Christian Democrats grouping won last month’s European elections.

Support for Cameron

According to British media reports, Rutte had earlier pledged to support Cameron and oppose Juncker’s appointment.

‘Tempers flared at Mr Cameron’s determination to expose U-turns by Mr Van Rompuy, German leader Angela Merkel, Holland’s Mark Rutte and Italy’s Matteo Renzi on Mr Juncker,’ the Daily Mail reported.

‘Other allies who had previously voiced sympathy with the British line of argument – the Swedish and Dutch prime ministers – have peeled away to side with the majority over the past week, leaving Cameron unusually isolated,’ the Guardian said.

Once German chancellor Angela Merkel had opted for Juncker, following pressure from back home ‘the leaders of Holland and Sweden swallowed their own doubts and fell into line behind Mrs Merkel’, wrote Andrew Rawnsley in the Guardian. 

This he said, was because, in the words of one senior official: ‘They didn’t want to be on the wrong side of Germany.’