2010-09-08 09:45

BRUSSELS - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso outlined the European Union's (EU) new economic and political agenda to become a "global player and winner" in his first State of the Union speech on Tuesday.

In a speech similar to those delivered by US presidents, Barroso passionately and eloquently addressed members of the European Parliament (MEPs) for 40 minutes at their parliamentary plenary in Strasbourg, France after a long summer recess.

To ensure the attendance of more than 700 MEPs, the parliament had earlier decided to fine those who failed to attend the event. At last minute, however, they made a hasty retreat, conceding that the idea had "damaged the reputation of the European Union - and indeed President Barroso".

Jin Ling, an expert on EU studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said there has been at least one solid reason for this degree of divided attention.

"The fact is that the attention was split for Barroso's speech and the meeting between EU finance ministers", Jin said, "which is also ongoing".

Jin noted that the speech aimed to address widespread discontent among the citizens of EU member states. "But at the end of the day it is still the economy that can decide the EU's development as a whole."

The high-profile address coincided with a nationwide 24-hour strike in France on Tuesday against plans to increase the retirement age. The stoppage is set to hit public transport links, banks, air traffic and the postal services while workers' unions have said they expect hundreds of thousands in the private and public sector alike to take to the streets in protest against the plans.

The speech to the MEPs in Strasbourg is seen as part of a drive to explain the importance of the EU's role in restoring economic growth. It is also a chance to review the impact of the EU's Lisbon Treaty.

Barroso, in his second term as head of the EU's executive branch, said the recovery "is gathering pace - albeit unevenly within the union" and that unemployment is "still much too high" within the EU.

While planning to roll out new industrial policies in the global context next month, Barroso stressed that the internal market "is Europe's greatest asset, and we are not using it enough".

In the areas of energy interconnections, research, and development aid, for instance, "a euro spent at European level gets you more than a euro spent at national level", the president said.

But Barroso said small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) "are being strangled in regulatory knots".

"The Commission has put proposals on the table to generate annual savings of 38 billion euros for European companies," he said. "Stimulating innovation, cutting red tape and developing a highly skilled workforce: These are ways to ensure that European manufacturing continues to be world-class."

In addition, Barroso said he would submit new proposals by the end of the month to tackle market speculators, whom many have blamed for worsening the financial crisis.

"But economic structure reform is still the biggest challenge for the EU," Jin said, citing the wide variety of public welfare and entitlement systems that exist in European countries - and the fact that no substantial agreements have been reached between the member states over a single major social or political difference.

Meanwhile, Barroso said the EU should unite as one to have a stronger voice heard by other international players and that the union should become a "global player and winner" in various arenas, such as climate change negotiation.

Dennis Pamlin, director of the Low Carbon Leaders Project, and a Sweden-based scholar on climate change and innovation, said that Barroso's blueprint is ambitious but added that globally, the biggest challenge is to abandon the EU's current reactive approach, and start becoming a proactive player.

"The economic recession should be used to set a direction that allows the EU to collaborate with the rest of the world," said Pamlin.

Emerging economies, he added, are all too often viewed as competitors instead of partners.

To this end, common solutions to worldwide problems need addressing, Pamlin said. Cities that are beset with aging populations and increased carbon dioxide emissions, for example, should become a greater priority for the EU.

"In the same way China and other emerging countries should be seen as part of the solution", said Pamlin, "it is also time for Europe to work together with a new generation of companies that have solutions to tomorrow problems."

Fu Jing reported from Brussels, and Ai Yang from Beijing. Yang Jing contributed to the story.