Barroso Defends Europe's Move Toward Austerity
Share with others:
BRUSSELS -- The European Union's top official rejected concerns that Europe was moving too quickly toward economic austerity, saying it was vital to cut debt to restore market and voter confidence as the key to future growth.
"Without addressing this issue, there will be no confidence, and without confidence, no growth," said the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, in an interview on Monday, before this weekend's Group of 20 summit meeting in Toronto.
Mr. Barroso, speaking animatedly for 90 minutes, was rebutting a criticism by President Obama and some economists that Europe's rush to cut government spending to appease market sentiment risked worsening the region's economic slump. Mr. Obama wrote in a letter last week to his Group of 20 counterparts that withdrawing fiscal stimulus too soon could lead to "renewed economic hardships and recession."
Mr. Barroso also rejected an American contention, made recently by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, that Europe was driving Turkey into the arms of its less secular Islamic neighbors. If Turkey is "moving eastward, it is, in my view, in no small part because it was pushed, and pushed by some in Europe, refusing to give Turkey the kind of organic link to the West that Turkey sought," Mr. Gates said.
Mr. Barroso said: "I was surprised by those remarks. They don't conform to the facts. The distance Turkey started to show" from NATO partners and the West "started with the invasion of Iraq and the pressure put on Turkey by the previous U.S. administration" of President George W. Bush.
He acknowledged that some European positions were not helpful -- France and Germany have both emphasized that the European Union is a club with a Christian character -- but he said that the union should continue to pursue eventual Turkish membership. He cautioned that it was necessary to listen to Turkish officials with respect. "They are extremely sensitive to the way we listen to and respect what they have to propose," he said. "We should adapt our paradigm to the 21st century."
The relationship between the European Union and the United States is vital, but "very frankly, this relationship is not living up to its full potential," Mr. Barroso said. He pointed to the European flavor of some of Mr. Obama's health and regulatory policies, and to the more pro-American mindset of the current crop of French, German and British leaders, contending that this moment was unusually ripe for trans-Atlantic cooperation. "The conditions were never so good as today," he said.
First Published June 22, 2010 2:01 am
