State of the Disunion

by Colman Wed Sep 12th, 2012 at 06:12:33 AM EST

So Barroso gave his "State of the European Union" address to Parliament today. The key points seem to be a plan to put forward an outline of a plan for the future of Europe and a banking union. The future of Europe is apparently as a federation of some sort.

Opening his state of the union address, Mr Barroso gave a sharp rebuke for EU governments' responses to the eurozone crisis and a call for greater solidarity.
He warned MEPs that it is time to put a stop to what he termed piece-meal actions and muddling through.
He told MEPs that states had too often backtracked on decisions taken at EU summits, adding that it was not acceptable to present such meetings as "boxing events" with winners and losers.

Good of him to mention it, though that would be Council's problem, surely?

Full text here.

State of the Disunion | 9 comments (9 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: State of the Disunion (4.00 / 2)

Not that anyone important is paying attention to Barroso any more.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Sep 12th, 2012 at 06:13:09 AM EST

Re: State of the Disunion (none / 1)

Why, they used to?

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Sep 12th, 2012 at 07:42:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: State of the Disunion (none / 1)

Why? Is he worth listening to?

by Euroliberal on Wed Sep 12th, 2012 at 08:35:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: State of the Disunion (4.00 / 2)

And the EP responders are taking the opportunity to give Council a passing kick as well.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Sep 12th, 2012 at 06:20:57 AM EST

Re: State of the Disunion (none / 0)

Hi Colman, I have quite a different view.

In fact almost everyone had forgotten about this address, for the one side there was the 9/11 mourning, on the other there was the wait on today's EMS ruling. Despite that Barroso pulled his address yet again to the spotlight, with a direct call for a federation. The majority of the media I read this morning is reporting the address because of this single point.

I'm not holding my breath, and understand these are words, not actions. But still, it is a major leap forward when it can be said this away and actually make sense.

Vencit omnia veritas.

by Luis de Sousa (luis[dot]a[dot]de[dot]sousa[at]gmail[dot]com) on Wed Sep 12th, 2012 at 07:29:43 AM EST

Re: State of the Disunion (none / 0)

Barroso wants EU to become `federation of states'

"The present European Union must evolve. Let's not be afraid of the word. We will need to move towards a federation of nation states. This is what we need. Not a superstate. A democratic federation of nation states that can tackle our common problems through the sharing of sovereignity in a way that each country and each citizen are better equipped to control their destiny,"

Vencit omnia veritas.

by Luis de Sousa (luis[dot]a[dot]de[dot]sousa[at]gmail[dot]com) on Wed Sep 12th, 2012 at 07:34:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: State of the Disunion (none / 1)

And this has also to be squared with the fact that Hollande had to include euro-sceptics in his government. A weakness that has been regularly used by the EPP.

But in essence, I cannot disagree with this particular passage of the address.

Vencit omnia veritas.

by Luis de Sousa (luis[dot]a[dot]de[dot]sousa[at]gmail[dot]com) on Wed Sep 12th, 2012 at 07:36:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: State of the Disunion (4.00 / 5)

Hollande had to include euro-sceptics in his government

That's an odd way of putting it. There are members of his government who were against the European constitution which was voted down by referendum; there are none who are opposed to the EU.

In a period where many of the dire predictions of the left opposition to that treaty have been verified, and when the institutions need to be renegotiated, I'm glad they are there in the mix. They were more clairvoyant than I.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Wed Sep 12th, 2012 at 08:16:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: State of the Disunion (4.00 / 3)

The way he's phrased it, I think he intends the members of the Federation to be the member states, not the citizens of the member states, which means you can't stop the howling about democracy.

Even from those who enthusiastically live in a Monarchy.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Sep 12th, 2012 at 07:57:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]

State of the Disunion | 9 comments (9 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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State of the Disunion

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