How many years has it been since we have heard a speech by a president of the European Commission as optimistic and encouraging as that delivered last Friday by José Manuel Barroso in Italy? It is true that the occasion lent itself to such a speech. It was the opening of the academic year at the European College of Parma. After all, if one cannot be stimulating when addressing young people about to set out on a year of specialised study on the edifice of Europe, when can one be?
Is...