Former European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso on Tuesday said controversy over his appointment to a job at Goldman Sachs revealed anti-US hostility in Europe. Barroso headed the Commission, the EU's powerful executive arm, from 2004 until 2014, emerging as a high-profile public figure with political and business connections world-wide which critics say he could use unfairly to Goldman's advantage.
But speaking at the annual Web Summit in Lisbon, the former Portuguese prime minister said Europeans need to change their mentality to catch up with the United States. He noted that a week ago a European Commission ethics committee had cleared the advisory appointment to the US investment bank, which was particularly targeted by critics over its role in the 2008 financial crisis. "But the very fact that the issue was raised shows a negative attitude of many people towards international finance, being in this case a United States institution, and it shows there are still a lot of cultural negative attitudes in Europe towards the new world, the financial world, the global integrated world we are living in. "And I think it's a mistake. We need a more innovative finance contribution," Barroso said, arguing that startup companies in the United States face fewer regulatory obstacles and greater access to venture capital than in Europe.