14 March 2013

President Barroso welcomes endorsement by European Council of EU key economic priorities for 2013

In a statement following the first session of the European Council meeting, the President said that the Commission's Annual Growth Survey was "a balanced approach that will bear fruit if we stick with it, if we implement it with determination".

"I believe we should stick with our strategy because it is already showing some results. The reality is that compared to a year ago, the euro is more stable and there are signs that confidence is starting to return with interest rates and spreads generally decreasing", said the President.

In a presentation on growth, competitiveness and jobs made earlier to the European Council, the President stressed that macro-economic imbalances within the euro area are being reduced and competitiveness is improving, especially in the programme countries.

President Barroso stated that faster progress is needed on actions to push growth. "The Commission has put on the table a whole series of proposals to stimulate growth. In fact I believe we have to speed up the implementation. The implementation is too low and too slow", he said.

However, while the macro-economic situation is, in many indicators, improving, and is more stable, unemployment is at an unacceptable level. The President said: "That means we must tackle the issue of fairness head-on. The burden of many of our citizens, in particular in programme countries, is becoming unbearable. So they must feel that the incredible efforts they are making are for a reason, are spread fairly and are shared by all actors in society, including, by the way, the financial sector."

President Barroso concluded by saying the European Commission is putting fairness and the social dimension at the centre of the European Union's economic strategy, with actions as the establishment of youth action teams, the Youth Employment Package, and the Youth Employment Initiative to implement the Youth Guarantee: "We need to work together, country by country, sector by sector to see how we can get people back into work."

Press release

Full speech

Presentation - Growth, competitiveness and jobs: priorities for the European Semester 2013

Video of press conference

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