Europe must unite to tackle the eurozone debt crisis or risk fragmentation, decline and irrelevance, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Sunday. Barroso's solidarity call, in a commentary for The Observer newspaper, seemed particularly aimed at Britain, where the eurozone debt crisis has fuelled an already strong eurosceptic strain.
"As we witness fundamental changes to the economic and geopolitical order, Europe needs to advance together or risk fragmentation," Barroso said. "The dynamic of globalisation in financial and economic terms, but also in geopolitical terms, confronts Europeans with a stark choice: live together, share a common destiny and count in the world; or face the prospect of disunity and decline. In this defining moment, we either unite or face irrelevance," he said.
Barroso said he hoped that when historians looked back on these times "they will understand that we stepped back from the brink of fragmentation. I hope they will see how the UK fully engaged with fellow member states and institutional partners to ensure the stability of the European Union." British Prime Minister David Cameron has repeatedly called on eurozone leaders to take urgent action to save the euro.
Barroso said the crisis had shown that the euro area needed deeper integration of policies and governance. "This is the only way to secure the sustainability of the euro," he said. "And it must come together with a strong focus on generating growth," he said.
He said the speed of the 27-nation EU bloc and the 17-nation euro area "can no longer be the speed of the slowest or most reluctant member," implying that Britain must allow other states to forge ahead with closer integration.