Brussels, 07/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - José Manuel Barroso, European Commission President, welcomed the president of Notre Europe, Jacques Delors, on Tuesday 7 February, 20 years to the day after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty. “We must continue to strengthen Europe in the spirit of Maastricht”, Barroso said. Maastricht created an economic and monetary union “but we did not yet have the means to complete that economic and monetary union. I believe that, despite all the resistance, we are making headway. There is resistance because there are interest groups. There is sometimes intergovernmental resistance. But the truth is that, today, in Europe, it is acknowledged that the problem is not that of having too much Europe but of not having enough Europe. We need a stronger Europe, stronger governance in Europe, especially given the challenges of globalisation that face us”, Barroso said.
Jacques Delors described his friend Barroso as someone who has for ever been fighting for Europe. He spoke of his total support for the Commission at a time when there was a move away from the Community method. Each time, he said, that the Community or the Union has moved away from the Community method, the result has been immobility, disputes between states and no significant progress. Unfortunately, in Amsterdam, focus was solely on the monetary side, Delors said. Monetary union has therefore worked well for ten years, but on only one leg. “We saw what happened” as soon as difficulties appeared, Delors said, deploring the lack of cooperation. He went on to conclude by saying: “Brussels does not have all the powers - governments are able to attack Brussels. A spirit of cooperation is needed, and that has been lacking within the economic union and mainly within the Council of finance ministers. The question is how to reconcile financial improvement with growth and jobs and green growth. It would be in the interest of governments to cooperate among themselves and to listen more to the Commission”.
José Manuel Barroso admitted that there were “terrible social difficulties in Europe”. The Commission remains attached to the values of a social Europe, he concluded, calling on all governments to share this point of view, this being a reference to the resistance put up by a number of states on the matter of extending the food aid programme to Europe's most deprived persons. (LC/transl.jl)