Barroso, the Union's in a state

On September 7, José Manuel Barroso delivered his first state of the Union speech before the European Parliament in Strasbourg, but the general consensus can be summed up in six words: new face, not so new message. According to La Croix, everyone was "waiting (in anticipation) just around the bend" for Barroso's missive. But "after months of criticism concerning his passivity in dealing with the world crisis and with Greece's budget difficulties, the MEP's (still) rather favourably received his catalogue of projects for the fall", observes the French daily. But for the Volkskrant, the speech amounts to a "lacklustre list of new initiatives", declaring that "Barroso has missed his target under an avalanche of words".

"Instead of the state of the Union, we got a lecture on economic strategy", complains La Libre Belgique, observing in particular "the return of an (old) idea proposed by Jacques Delors, which was shot down at the time by Germany: securing loans from European funds to finance large infrastructure projects, in collaboration with the European Investment Bank". In short, for the Brussels daily, it was just another example of "vintage Barroso" that was trotted out before the MEP's.

The equal of that man in the White House?

El País saw in Barroso's discourse the desire to "imitate" the centuries-old tradition of the State of the Union address delivered to the American Congress by the president. And in his Financial Times blog, Gideon Rachman finds that "the Commission president has stuck doggedly to his campaign to be regarded as the equal of that man in the White House". Just the same, Polska advances the idea that there exist some similarities between Obama and Barroso: “Not only are they both struggling to reconstruct their economies in the wake of the crisis, but they are also working to restore confidence" in their leadership. But “the declarations of the American president evolve into legislation, while the majority of Barroso's pronouncements only amount to a diagnostic of the situation, or just wishful thinking", concludes Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

In fact, De Volkskrant reports, "nothing remains of the original text of the speech following the pressures exerted by the commissioners (who all have their own messages to deliver) and other officials". Polska considers that the "Brussels elite ... dreams of becoming a single entity, not 27 separate projects". But the large demonstrations in France and the recent strike affecting the London Underground prove that this desire will remain "only a dream". As a consequence, adds Warsaw's Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, the "true message of the speech" is that "the European bureaucracy is on the defensive (because individual) member states are closer to finding their way toward successful integration". And as Lisbon's Público remarks, "this highly anticipated speech" is far from impressing the MEP's who were "expecting a clear strategy for pulling the EU out of its intergovernmental drift".

Since when does Brussels want to be like Washington?

"Are we swimming or drowning?" asks Gazeta Wyborcza. “The problem in Europe that the Treaty of Lisbon did not solve is the lack of strong leadership". In this context, the competition between the different European institutions (the Commission, the Council and the Parliament) brings nothing positive to the table: "It is high time for the European institutions to put aside their individual ambitions and begin to work together for Europeans".

One may also wonder if the Commission president even takes into account the citizens of Europe. In his state of the Union speech, "There was no acknowledgment that support for the EU has plunged", Honor Mahony reminds us on her EUobserver blog. "Only later, as part of a response, did Barroso admit to 'problems, serious problems' in reference to the recent EU survey".

And since when does Brussels want to be like Washington?" wonders Der Standard. While an American president directly "addresses the people in order to outline the direction of his political agenda", the fact that Barroso "begins his speech that is broadcast live (throughout Europe) by first greeting the president of the Parliament and the MEP's, and not his fellow citizens" remains "an eternal mystery". The head of the European Commission comes off as "an inaccessible executor who remains apart from others, who doesn't dare to attack anyone, who avoids the word 'expulsion' when speaking of the Roma". A man "without vision" who incessantly minces his words. "This is Europe's dilemma: you cannot, or rather must not, speak this way to the people", complains the Viennese daily.

Highlight

Too timid on the Roma issue

"Europe takes on France," announces the El País editorial headline. The Madrid daily argues that José Manuel Barroso "has his head in the clouds" if he believes that a "teary plea" for policies "that are careful not to raise the spectres of the past" is appropriate in the light of recent developments. Comparing Barroso’s "futile complaint" to the firmness of his predecessor Romano Prodi’s stand against Austria’s Jörg Haider in 1999, El País remarks that his position is all the more deplorable because in adopting a more determined line the Commission President would have had full backing from the Charter of Fundamental Rights contained in the Lisbon Treaty which has since come into force.

Harshly critical "of the indifference of EU leaders and institutions to a tragic situation," El País points out that the French government’s anti-Rom campaign "breaches half a dozen articles of the Charter." In particular, the Roms right to freedom of movement, which "is not a privilege that can be granted or withdrawn on a whim by national leaders, but a right enshrined in law." On this basis, the newspaper insists that the European executive should open a public enquiry into the French initiative and adopt the necessary measures.