State of the Union Address

In his State of the Union address uttered before the euro MPs, the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, focused on the need to carry on the reforms meant to consolidate economic recovery.

Ştefan Stoica, 12.09.2013, 13:33

The European Union needs to consolidate its fragile economic recovery given that the biggest risk facing the community bloc is political in nature. This was the focus of the State of the Union address which the president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, delivered in Strasbourg before the MEPs, ahead of the 2014 elections for a new European Parliament.

Jose Manuel Barroso defended the measures passed by the European Union, which, according to him, managed to stage a ‘counterattack’ against the financial, economic and social crisis that started 5 years ago. The facts, Manuel Barroso went on to say, show that the union’s efforts have started to bear fruit. He mentioned the progress made by the states that benefited from financial assistance such as Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. Barroso also warned of the risk of negligence in the context of record-high unemployment rates and asked for consistent action to be taken in this respect.

“For Europe”, Manuel Barroso said, “recovery is within sight. This should push up our efforts. We owe it to our 26 million unemployed”. The euro zone reported growth this spring after the longest period of recession in its history, that was caused by the banking and debt crisis, which seriously threatened the single European currency. However, Barroso warned that financial markets were not yet convinced that Europe definitely overcame the crisis. That is why everything that questions the reforms will be immediately sanctioned, mainly by financial markets.

One of the problems of the Union is the lack of consistency, not only in making decisions but also in applying them. He urged the European Parliament to pass the EU budget for 2014-2020 and the Europeans to make progress in creating a banking union, which is key to the stabilization of the financial system. The 28-nation bloc has to finalize this project and make sure that it’s not taxpayers that pay when banks go bankrupt.

At political level the president of the European Commission again pleaded for a mechanism meant to protect the fundamental values of the European Union. Jose Manuel Barroso also referred to the Syrian file, saying that a strong response was needed to the use of chemical weapons in that country and called the proposal for Syria to hand over its stockpiles ‘potentially a positive development’. According to him a political solution is the only one allowing for a long standing peace, which the Syrian people well deserves.