Brussels, 23/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - In a speech made at Chatham House in London, to inaugurate (in the context of the 50th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome) his book, “The European Union in the Global Age”, the Commissioner for Trade, Peter Mandelson, underlined on Thursday that the Union's central role will be, “a means for European states and European people to project their shared values and protect their shared interests in a changing world. A means to help Europeans adapt to the social and economic challenges that globalisation brings”. As a key advocate of free trade, Mandelson rejected, “protectionist conceptions” which see the Union as a “barrier” against globalisation and economic change and explained that the Union is, “not a wall against globalisation but a way of engaging with it”. The Commissioner for Trade also said that the Union, “does not exist to put the nation state out of business” but rather, gives Europeans, “a capacity for continental scale action in a world of continental-sized partners”. He made specific reference to trade policy, climate change, energy security, strengthening the single market and development aid as, “areas where collective Europe action makes European policy more effective, rational and credible”. He then called on European leaders to, “make the case for a positive politics of globalisation that puts the European Union at its centre”. Mr Mandelson concluded that, “Those how have proclaimed their commitment to the EU, on the continent in particular, have too often failed to make the positive case for globalisation. Those who have made a positive case of globalisation have too often ignored the centrality of the EU's role in the global age”. On the same day, Mr Mandelson expalined that he would not be a candidate for a new mandate as Commissioner in 2009. (eh)