BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Jean-Claude Juncker thinks heeding David Cameron’s request to stay silent while Brexit campaigners told “lies” before Britain’s 2016 referendum was the biggest mistake he has made as EU chief executive...

... “It was a mistake not to intervene and not to interfere because we would have been the only ones to destroy the lies which were circulated around. I was wrong to be silent at an important moment.”

Cameron angered fellow EU leaders by promising a referendum on Britain’s membership of the bloc in a bid to prevent voters deserting his ruling Conservatives for the UK Independence Party. Having secured some special concessions from the EU, he then campaigned to keep Britain in the EU in the June 2016 vote.

Juncker has said that he kept out of that British debate, partly because Cameron told him it would be counter-productive. Many EU leaders were irritated, however, that Cameron’s campaign made little mention of the special deal they had given him...

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-juncker-mistake/juncker-regrets-eu-silence-on-brexit-campaign-lies-idUKKCN1SD1B9?il=0