Brussels, 01/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - On 30 November the president of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso spoke at the 7th international ECSA-World conference on the theme of " The European Union and the Emerging World Order - Perceptions and Strategies”, organised by Jean Monnet action and the ECSA (European Community Studies Association ), which brings together 51 research and teaching associations. Participants at the conference, which finished on 1 December, included the new Commissioner for education, culture and multilinguism, Jan Figel, the director general for education and culture at the European Commission Nikolaus van der Pas and former Secretary General s of the UN and UNESCO, Boutros Boutros Ghali and Federico Mayor (http: //europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/ajm/ecsa world /index_en.html).
President Barroso explained how difficult it was in the context of globalisation to distinguish what was "internal" and "external", and provides assurances that one of his priorities as president of the Commission was to "play a constructive role in managing the structural changes in the global order, together with our international partners." He noted that "the European Union is undoubtedly a global player" and that it "pursues a specific foreign policy philosophy which I would term 'effective multilateralism'”. He also said that they would not be able to deal with global challenges unless the EU and USA were able to make agreements. At the same time he highlighted the need of strategic partnership with Russia, China, Japan, India and "and other key players such as our friends in Latin America, ", and to help their partners, particularly in Africa to succeed in structural reforms and attack the roots of the numerous conflicts. He pointed to the instruments the EU had for external action and indicated that the Commission should put even more emphasis in the future on "human security", by fighting against the proliferation of small arms and trafficking in human beings by tackling the role of children in armed conflicts and improving conflict prevention and promoting democracy. Mr Barroso said that it would be "essential to bring the strong external side of its internal policies to full fruition… critical importance of an international energy policy, an international environment policy… a strong European stance on international crime".