Brussels, 29/10/2014 (Agence Europe) -José Manuel Barroso, speaking on Wednesday 29 October in one of his last occasions as European Commission President, highlighted the importance of bringing citizens closer to the European Union. He will step down as the head of the Commission at the end of October, after completing two five-year terms of office.
Speaking after the final meeting of the college of commissioners, Barroso delivered a nuanced assessment of his time as Commission president, alternating between successes and heavy challenges left to his successor, Luxembourg Christian Democrat Jean-Claude Juncker. He felt that he was leaving a European Union that was “stronger” and “better able to meet future challenges”. He expressed his pride at certain issues, including the fate of Greece, underlining that the Commission had always worked to keep Greece in the euro area, even at the height of the sovereign debt crisis, so long as the country stuck by the undertakings made under the terms of its bail-out plan. “If Greece had fallen, other countries would immediately have fallen too. We went through a very serious time. Spain, Italy and even France were under enormous pressure from the markets. Many were expecting the eurozone to implode”, he reflected.
With regard to enlargement, Barroso expressed the view that “the first decisions of 2004 were the right decisions”. His taking on the mantle of European responsibility coincided with the accessions of eight Central and Eastern European countries, along with Cyprus and Malta. These were followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2007 and Croatia in 2013.
Warning against the erection of a “Great Wall of China” between the eurozone countries, which will become more economically and politically integrated, and the others, the outgoing president hailed the appointment of Donald Tusk of Poland as the president of the European Council. “Enlargement has been a success”, he said.
He will also remember other successes, in trade policy and tackling climate change. He repeated his satisfaction at the outcome of the last European summit which reached agreement on the climate and energy package until 2030 (see EUROPE 11184).
Other EU success stories during his terms of office included foreign policy, Barroso said. The EU remains “the world's largest aid donor” and a key economic player, he stated. A €1,000 billion budget has been put together, geared to drive key investments in the European economy, with double the money for research and technology and triple the funding for education and training of a decade ago.
Having faced criticism for being at the service of the member states rather than the European Parliament, Barroso spoke of the decision-making process in the EU. There is not always enough solidarity, he said, arguing that the Commission “was always fighting for more solidarity and more responsibility”.
Involving citizens more in the European project. Among the challenges identified by Barroso for his successor, without putting them down as failures that could be laid at the door of his terms of office, however, was the “disconnect and mistrust” of citizens, a matter about which he is “very concerned”.
The “legitimacy or accountability issue” of the European project must also be addressed, Barroso also said. These are matters that Juncker has put high up his political programme, with the Luxembourger taking the, perhaps extravagant, view that his Commission will provide the last chance to save what remains of belief in the European project.
Barroso's relatively short legacy speech also provided the opportunity to reflect on his sometimes stormy relationship with the media, some of which, he ventured, shared responsibility with the political elite for citizens' falling out of love with European construction. He regretted that “the reality is that sometimes lies were simply said and not sufficient attention was given to facts”. He was perhaps thinking of the British tabloid press and the very recent spat with UK Prime Minister David Cameron over national contributions to the European budget which tarnished the last European summit (see EUROPE 11185).
Barroso will have the opportunity over the coming weeks to explain Europe precisely for citizens as he lectures at a university in Belgium. On his longer-term plans, he said that he had nothing specific in mind at the moment. After 30 years in politics, “I think I deserve a break”, he felt, stepping down to the words of the poem “Recomeçar” by the Portuguese writer Miguel Torga. (SP and MB)