BELGIUM: European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso accuses Europe's leaders of undermining the bloc by breaking pledges to work together and using Brussels as a scapegoat for their own failures

Record ID: 859363

  • Title: BELGIUM: European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso accuses Europe's leaders of undermining the bloc by breaking pledges to work together and using Brussels as a scapegoat for their own failures
  • Date: 11th May 2006
  • Summary: (EU) BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (MAY 10, 2006) (REUTERS) CLOSE UP OF EUROPEAN FLAGS WIDE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION ENTRANCE
  • Embargoed: 26th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • City:
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: International Relations,European Union
  • Reuters ID: LVAYIONXTP4BVWS3A46MLF3PQK6
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  • Story Text: European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso accused Europe's national leaders on Wednesday (May 10) of undermining the bloc by breaking pledges to work together and using Brussels as a scapegoat for their own failures.
    Barroso urged them to sign a declaration next year that they were genuinely ready to promote EU-wide policies on the economy and security, insisting the EU had to win back its credibility before it could think about salvaging its stalled constitution.
    "That's why in fact I am challenging national leaders. I am asking them: Are you committed or not to this project of living together in Europe? ... It is good that you say it, that European citizens understand it," he told a news conference.
    In an unusually forthright attack on member states by the head of the bloc's Brussels-based executive, Barroso said they had gone back on agreements to reform Europe's economy and boost EU-wide efforts to combat crime and terrorism.
    Without citing any leader by name, Barroso said some were happy to claim EU policy successes as their own while insisting that "when they have a problem it is Europe's problem".
    The last 12 months have been among the most difficult in the bloc's half-century history, with French and Dutch rejections of an ambitious new EU-wide constitution consigning it to the deep freeze and growing doubts over its enlargement policy.
    "We believe that enlargement was one of the most important success of the European Union. Indeed, one of the most important success in contemporary history", Barroso told journalists, answering a question about "enlargement fatigue".
    "At each enlargement of the EU, there have been doubts, but each time the EU has emerged stronger and more confident. The starting point of our approach is that we must honour existing commitment. At the same time we must respond to some concerns expressed by some of our citizens that make a good question about the pace and scope of enlargement." he said.
    Estonia on Tuesday became the 15th country to ratify the constitution, which provides for a long-term EU president, more democratic voting rules and more say for national parliaments.
    However the charter is unlikely ever to take effect in its current form given that it must be endorsed by all EU states.
    Barroso's attack came as he presented Commission ideas for a June summit aimed at charting a way out of the stalemate on the EU charter.
    Finland's parliament began a debate on Wednesday on ratifying the constitution, with parties in the coalition government speaking out in support of the treaty, as expected, along with some opposition lawmakers.
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