EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in a major speech on Tuesday morning said the EU has survived the economic crisis. "Over the last year, the economic and financial crisis has put our Union before one of its greatest challenges ever ... As I look back at how we have reacted, I believe that we have withstood the test," Mr Barroso told MEPs in his first ever so-called State of the Union address. "Those who predicted the demise of the European Union were proved wrong." His remarks come after a threat of sovereign default by eurozone countries such as Greece and Spain threatened to pull apart the single currency in a potentially deadly blow to the 50-year-old European project.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in a major speech on Tuesday morning said the EU has survived the economic crisis.
"Over the last year, the economic and financial crisis has put our Union before one of its greatest challenges ever ... As I look back at how we have reacted, I believe that we have withstood the test," Mr Barroso told MEPs in his first ever so-called State of the Union address. "Those who predicted the demise of the European Union were proved wrong."
His remarks come after a threat of sovereign default by eurozone countries such as Greece and Spain threatened to pull apart the single currency in a potentially deadly blow to the 50-year-old European project.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European parliament authorities have bid a hasty retreat from a tentative proposal to fine for non-attendance of today's State of the Union speech after the idea was met with derision and anger by MEPs. A meeting yesterday (6 September) evening of parliament president Jerzy Buzek and the 14 vice presidents of the EU assembly abandoned an idea to check up on just who was listening to European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso's speech and the ensuing debate. Jose Manuel Barroso is giving his first ever State of the Union speech in the European Parliament in Strasbourg "The parliament's bureau looked at the matter and we agreed that we need to beef up MEPs' presence during debate. But we felt we need a bit more time to mull over the various possibilities," Mr Buzek said Tuesday morning.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European parliament authorities have bid a hasty retreat from a tentative proposal to fine for non-attendance of today's State of the Union speech after the idea was met with derision and anger by MEPs.
A meeting yesterday (6 September) evening of parliament president Jerzy Buzek and the 14 vice presidents of the EU assembly abandoned an idea to check up on just who was listening to European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso's speech and the ensuing debate.
Jose Manuel Barroso is giving his first ever State of the Union speech in the European Parliament in Strasbourg
"The parliament's bureau looked at the matter and we agreed that we need to beef up MEPs' presence during debate. But we felt we need a bit more time to mull over the various possibilities," Mr Buzek said Tuesday morning.
REUTERS - Economic recovery is gathering pace in the European Union and growth this year will be higher than initially forecast, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Tuesday. In a policy speech to the European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg, the head of the EU executive said structural reforms must be accelerated in the next 12 months and the 27 countries in the bloc must show solidarity. "Europe must show it is more than 27 different national solutions. We either swim together, or sink separately," he said.
