DHAKA: The vice-president of the European Commission has said ‘it would be very bad news’ if the UK left the EU.

Joaquin Almunia also predicted that David Cameron would be able to work with the in-coming European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker.

He told the BBC Juncker was ‘a committed pro-European’ but also ‘a pragmatic politician’ and the UK ‘was an important member of the EU’.

The PM faces MPs later, after failing to stop Juncker’s appointment.

The prime minister forced a vote of EU states on Friday on the selection of Juncker - but lost it 26-2.

Downing Street said the defeat would only ‘redouble the prime minister’s resolve’.

In Monday’s Daily Telegraph, the PM said he would ‘work with’ Juncker, adding, ‘There is business we can do’.

He said he was still determined to renegotiate the UK-EU relationship and then put the changes to a referendum on whether the UK should stay in, or leave, the EU - but accepted that was now ‘harder’.

BDST: 2142 HRS, JUNE 30, 2014