"More Europe, not less Europe" - says Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt on the future of the EU

The EU should not take the blame for the economic crisis in the individual member states.

That was one of the main points of Monday’s meeting between the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt on the future of the EU at the University of Copenhagen.

“The crisis was not created at a European level, but was basically created because the member states didn’t keep their own house in order,” Thorning-Schmidt said, arguing that “the lesson is that what each individual country chooses to do will affect the rest and our solutions must be carried out in co-ordination with one another.”

Barroso said that is easy to blame the EU for the crisis – pointing to the perceived snowball effect of the problems in Italy and Greece – but the fact is that the crisis began in the individual countries. But to get out of the crisis, he said, the member states must stick together and both co-operate and make compromises.
According to Thorning-Schmidt, that is already happening. “The actions over the last months have shown that the EU is wiling to act together and act in solidarity,” she said.

She dismissed the recent criticism levelled at the EU that it hasn’t taken concrete action.

For more: "More Europe, not less Europe" | The Copenhagen Post | The Danish News in English

Ireland has only itself to blame for the costly bailout says Barroso - by Sarah Collins

The EU's top official has hit back at accusations that the EU-IMF bailout will cripple the Irish economy, saying it was Ireland's "fiscally and financially irresponsible" behaviour that caused the downfall in the first place.

In an uncharacteristic outburst European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso lashed out at MEP Joe Higgins yesterday after he accused the EU of "making vassals" of Irish taxpayers.

"The problems of Ireland were created by irresponsible financial behaviour of financial institutions and a lack of supervision in the Irish market," Mr Barroso hit back in an angry exchange. "Europe is now part of the solution. It was not Europe that created this fiscally irresponsible situation and this financially irresponsible behaviour."

For more: Ireland has only itself to blame for the costly bailout says Barroso - Irish, Business - Independent.ie

EUobserver :Barroso fears lame-duck commission - by Honor Mahony

Forthe complete report from the EUobserver click on this link

Barroso fears lame-duck commission - by Honor Mahony

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso wants Europe to be a leading world power but believes its institutional problems may prevent it from negotiating on the key issue that could help achieve this goal. On the brink of possible re-appointment for a second term as head of the EU executive, Mr Barroso says he fears that ongoing uncertainty over the Lisbon Treaty, the EU's new set of internal rules, could mean he is saddled with a lame-duck institution at an international summit on climate change in December in Copenhagen."I fear the commission will not be there with its full competence politically and even legally," he told EUobserver and other media on Friday (4 September). The uncertainty stems from the fact that even if he gets parliament's approval next week for a further five years in office, there is no guarantee that the Lisbon Treaty will have been approved by all four of the remaining member states by the end of October, when the current commission's term expires.