President puts competitiveness at the forefront

Date: 16/12/04

JOSE Manuel Barroso pleaded before the European Parliament for sweeping reforms to make the EU's economy more competitive, in order to be able to finance "the European way".

In a first debate about the priorities of his five-year term at the helm of the European Commission, Barroso listed economic growth, job creation and injecting more dynamism in Europe's economy as preconditions for saving the European social model. Without these, "we cannot achieve the high levels of social insurance, protection and environmental protection which we call the European model", he told MEPs in a debate on Tuesday (14 December).

He also pledged that the Commission would promote initiatives to provide "citizens with a better level of personal security and therefore of personal freedom".

Promising to put forward a "global system of navigation for Europe for the five years to come", he said that Commissions in the past had failed to give Europe a "sufficiently clear road-map".

The provisional list of priorities the Commission is set to present in January includes:

• The Lisbon Agenda aiming to transform the Union into the world's most competitive economy by 2010; economic growth and job creation;
• clamping down on crime, fighting terrorism;
• protecting the environment and, in particular, tackling climate change;
• better structured relationships with the EU's neighbours to promote stability;
• preparing the Union for further enlargements;
• helping the world's poorest regions, particularly Africa.

Barroso said that he would present a complete list of priorities, after having listened to Parliament's and member states' suggestions.

In a debate at the European Parliament about the European Commission's strategic programme for 2005-2009, Commission President, José Manuel Barroso, pleaded for sweeping reforms to make the EU's economy more competitive, in order to be able to finance 'the European way', 14 December 2004.