11 September 2013

President Barroso: State of the Union address 2013

"What we can and must do, first and foremost, let's be concrete is delivering the Banking Union. It is the first and most urgent phase on the way to deepen our economic and monetary union, as mapped out in the Commission's Blueprint presented last autumn", said Barroso.

He continued: "Our attention now must urgently turn to the Single Resolution Mechanism. The Commission's proposal is on the table since July and, together, we must do the necessary to have it adopted still during this term. It is the way to ensure that taxpayers are no longer the ones in the front line for paying the price of bank failure. It is the way to make progress in decoupling bank from sovereign risk. It is the way to remedy one of the most alarming and unacceptable results of the crisis: increased fragmentation of Europe's financial sector and credit markets - even an implicit re-nationalisation. And it is also the way to help restoring normal lending to the economy, notably to SMEs. Because in spite of the accommodating monetary policy, credit is not yet sufficiently flowing to the economy across the euro area. This needs to be addressed resolutely."

Barroso went on to warn: "At this point in time, with a fragile recovery, the biggest downside risk I see is political: lack of stability and lack of determination. Over the last years we have seen that anything that casts doubt on governments' commitment to reform is instantly punished. On the positive side, strong and convincing decisions have an important and immediate impact."

Ahead of next year's European Parliament elections, Barroso also said that the EU should be "smaller" on some issues. "Not everything needs a solution at European level. Europe must focus on where it can add most value. Where this is not the case, it should not meddle. The EU needs to be big on big things and smaller on smaller things - something we may occasionally have neglected in the past. The EU needs to show it has the capacity to set both positive and negative priorities."

But he argued that without a common EU effort, the region's challenges would have been much less effective. "I believe a political union needs to be our political horizon, as I stressed in last year's State of the Union. This is not just the demand of a passionate European. This is the indispensable way forward to consolidate our progress and ensure the future", he said.

In an thinly-veiled reference to those who want to roll back the EU's powers, Barroso said that next year's centenary of the First World War should be a reminder of the "Union"'s role of keeping the peace in Europe. "Let me say to all those - including some in this House - who rejoice in Europe's difficulties and who want to roll back our integration and go back to isolation: the pre-integrated Europe of the divisions, the war, the trenches, is not what people desire and deserve", he said. "The European continent has never in its history known such a long period of peace as since the creation of the European Community. It is our duty to preserve and deepen it."

"There are those who claim that a weaker Europe would make their country stronger, that Europe is a burden; that they would be better off without it. My reply is clear: we all need a Europe that is united, strong and open."

"In the debate that is ongoing all across Europe, the bottom-line question is: Do we want to improve Europe, or give it up? My answer is clear: let's engage! If you don't like Europe as it is: improve it! Find ways to make it stronger, internally and internationally, and you will have in me the firmest of supporters. Find ways that allow for diversity without creating discriminations, and I will be with you all the way. But don't turn away from it."

Full speech

Video

Letter to President Schulz

Further press release: Making the case for Europe

See also Graham's blog

© European Commission