‘Barroso: why France is a worry for Europe’

The conflict between the European Commission and France “is completely artificial,” says José Manuel Barroso in an interview with Les Echos.
As Europe’s leaders gather in Brussels for a European Council, the Commission President insists that his “remarks were deliberately misinterpreted” and that he is “in favour of cultural exception, which is a sacrosanct concept.”
Questioned on the Commission’s economic recommendations for France, Barroso points out that “if there is too great a gap between France and Germany, then that is a problem for all of us in Europe.”