Explore Quotes by Jose Manuel Barroso

Let us not forget that the European Community started as a project for peace after the terrible Second World War. And today people take for granted the freedom to travel, to study, to work abroad. And the citizens of one country have almost exactly the same rights as another country.

Financial transaction tax raises problems of competition.

Germany is the biggest economy of Europe and we need Germany on board for the economic reforms of Europe, including, of course, the deepening of the internal market, resisting protectionism, and supporting further economic policy coordination.

Even when governments take the right steps to reform, these can be negatively impacted by events outside their control.

For investor confidence, it is important that there is certainty about the future of Ireland in E.U.

Internal protectionism in Europe would be deadly, really a disaster for European economies.

I say to my friends, 'Don't just listen to the vuvuzelas; look at who scores the goals.' And this is the important thing.

I very often compare relations between states to relations with people. Sometimes we are nicer to those we don't know well, who are not our friends, than we are to our friends, because with our friends we don't need to be nice all the time.

You see in times of crisis that extremist forces, populist forces, have a better ground to oversimplify things and to manipulate feelings. Feelings of fear.

By the way, the European Union Member States together - even the euro area Member States together - are by far the biggest contributors to the IMF.

I think diversity can also be a resource, an asset, especially in a world that is becoming globalized, to deal with difference, to deal with variety, to deal with complexity.

I am a very committed European.

The new narrative for Europe should be about the need to have a responsible organisation, the need to be able to defend our interests and promote our values, like human rights.

Smart, sustainable, inclusive growth is the key to job-creation and the future prosperity of Europe.

Decisions taken by the most democratic institutions in the world are very often wrong.

We need open, competitive, market economies... but at the same time with effective regulation and supervision.

The Eurogroup decisions are always taken unanimously.

There's a tendency in many politicians to become inward-looking, more protectionist, more nationalistic and more defensive, in the bad sense of the word.

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 the age of globalisation, pooled sovereignty means more power, not less.

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