Browse content similar to Jose Manuel Barroso - President of the European Commission. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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That is it. Now it is time for HARDtalk. | :00:00. | :00:15. | |
Welcome to HARDtalk. Here by the shores of Lake Como in Italy. Where | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
top politicians, officials and business leaders have been gathering | :00:21. | :00:26. | |
for their annual forum. There are grave dangers to your's security. | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
From the jihadist threat at home and abroad to the instability in | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
Ukraine. My guess today is the outgoing commission president, Jose | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
Manuel Barroso. Does Europe black a unified and automated response to | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
these dangers and is Jose Manuel Barroso leaving a mess behind for | :00:48. | :00:48. | |
his successors? `` Jose Manuel Barroso, welcome to | :00:49. | :01:22. | |
HARDtalk. Thank you very much. I put it to you that the response by | :01:23. | :01:25. | |
European Union to Russia has been pretty half`hearted. I do not think | :01:26. | :01:33. | |
so. I think it is what we should do at this moment. On one side we have | :01:34. | :01:38. | |
to show that we do not agree with Russia and we have made it very | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
clear, not only with sanctions, but we want to use the sanctions not as | :01:44. | :01:49. | |
an end but as a way to bring the Russians to the table and to bring | :01:50. | :01:56. | |
the dialogue forward. We believe a solution should be found on the | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine. Here is the European Union | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
now discussing and wanting to impose a third round of tougher sanctions. | :02:08. | :02:14. | |
But we have also had key European Union leaders like Angela Merkel | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
saying this. It is possible that the sanctions could indeed be | :02:20. | :02:22. | |
implemented, but with the limitation that they could be suspended if the | :02:23. | :02:25. | |
ceasefire process is actually happening. That is exactly what we | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
mean. The sanctions are happening in a way that they can be scaled back. | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
We do not want to keep the sanctions for the sake of sanctions. We want | :02:36. | :02:41. | |
comprehensive settlements of the issue. It is very good news | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
regarding the ceasefire. Let us now make everything to make it work so | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
that we can implement it. That we still need a comprehensive solution, | :02:52. | :02:58. | |
they political solution. We have been working hard trying to address | :02:59. | :03:02. | |
concerns in terms of trade and energy. Our idea is to use the | :03:03. | :03:10. | |
sanctions as a way to come to a political solution for the conflict. | :03:11. | :03:15. | |
Can you just clarify for us when you say the sanctions are meant to | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
extract certain behaviours from President Putin. Just that include | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
giving up Crimea or does it just me and eastern Ukraine? Today we are | :03:26. | :03:33. | |
discussing eastern Ukraine. That is the object of the ceasefire. | :03:34. | :03:40. | |
Regarding Crimea, we have already stated that we will not accept the | :03:41. | :03:47. | |
illegal annexation of Crimea. But these sanctions and whether they are | :03:48. | :03:50. | |
elected or not has got nothing to do with what President Putin does with | :03:51. | :03:57. | |
Crimea? That is in regards to the governments of Europe, not me. They | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
asked me to prepare the sanctions and the European commission made | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
these proposals. It is a decision taken by the governments of Europe, | :04:07. | :04:10. | |
not the European commission. When and how they want to suspend the | :04:11. | :04:17. | |
sanctions. The former Assistant Secretary of State in the US says | :04:18. | :04:21. | |
understanding the Russians and knowing what Putin is like, the | :04:22. | :04:23. | |
chances are he will never leave Crimea. As far as the EU leaders are | :04:24. | :04:31. | |
concerned, Putin has gotten away with annex in Crimea. We have a very | :04:32. | :04:39. | |
principled position of the European countries. We did not accept the | :04:40. | :04:47. | |
annexation. We do not recognise Crimea as part of Russia. We have | :04:48. | :04:54. | |
never recognised Lithuania, Estonia or Latvia as part of the Soviet | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
Union. And now they are independent countries. The fact is this. An | :05:00. | :05:06. | |
American Nato commander`in`chief has said as long as Russia does not go | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
for a full`blown invasion of eastern Ukraine, they can get away with it. | :05:12. | :05:18. | |
I do not believe annex in Crimea is business as usual. Can Crimea | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
conduct business as usual with Crimea in the hands of Moscow? We | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
are not business as usual. But you are talking about lifting the | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
sanctions to do with Crimea. Everything except business as usual | :05:35. | :05:41. | |
with regards to Russia. We have excluded them from the G8. We have | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
suspended many parts of our relationship. So these sanctions, | :05:47. | :05:52. | |
there are those who say that they are working and they have caused | :05:53. | :05:55. | |
problems for Russia. But even if they are hoping, they are not | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
working, because the European Union is going to be limited in how far it | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
can extend these sanctions and gas supplies to the tune of 30% of the | :06:07. | :06:12. | |
EU's needs from Russia. Some countries, like Bulgaria, 100%. You | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
cannot afford to really squeeze them hard. As I have said, sanctions are | :06:19. | :06:26. | |
not an end in themselves. It is a way to have serious negotiations | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
between Russia and Ukraine. So far we have not taken sanctions | :06:33. | :06:39. | |
specifically on the field of energy. We have not suggested them. Some of | :06:40. | :06:45. | |
the measures will have an impact on energy. It may affect drilling | :06:46. | :06:53. | |
capacities, technological capacities. Allowing them to exploit | :06:54. | :07:00. | |
natural resources. We are working on that field. Have you mended fences, | :07:01. | :07:07. | |
diplomatic fences with Russia? There has been a highly publicised, | :07:08. | :07:11. | |
reportedly kept out a conversation you had on the telephone with | :07:12. | :07:18. | |
President Putin when you briefed European union leaders in Brussels. | :07:19. | :07:26. | |
Can you set the record straight? What I have done and should have | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
done is to inform my colleagues of the contacts I have as commission | :07:32. | :07:40. | |
president. I have been keeping frequent contact with President | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
Putin. Also with President Poroshenko of Ukraine. Afterwards | :07:45. | :07:51. | |
there was a leak that was distorting what I said and out of context. The | :07:52. | :07:58. | |
Russian authorities consider the case post closed. You have met | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
President Putin around 20 times. Is he a man that the European Union can | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
do business with? We have to do business with them. What is | :08:08. | :08:14. | |
important for us are the facts. The facts are not good. Russia is not | :08:15. | :08:22. | |
respecting international law. They are interventions of Russian troops | :08:23. | :08:28. | |
in Ukraine territory, a sovereign country. President Putin is the | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
president of Russia at the same time. We have to deal with him. I | :08:35. | :08:41. | |
still hope there is a margin for a political negotiated solution. I | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
have been very clear in expressing to him to the high costs for Russia | :08:47. | :08:49. | |
in terms of the relationship with Ukraine if there is not a change. | :08:50. | :08:59. | |
What is the call? One has said that Putin wants a friendly government in | :09:00. | :09:06. | |
eastern Ukraine. He does not want it to be incorporated into Russia. I do | :09:07. | :09:15. | |
not want to make speculation as to the endgame of President Putin. Our | :09:16. | :09:21. | |
endgame is respect of the sovereignty of Ukraine. Ukraine is a | :09:22. | :09:30. | |
country in the United Nations. They can make agreements with whoever | :09:31. | :09:33. | |
they want and they have a right to live in peace. Everything we want | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
from Russia is for them to expect the sovereignty of Ukraine. I will | :09:39. | :09:44. | |
not engage in speculation of scenarios or comments. We are | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
working very hard with our government in Europe to try and | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
achieve that political agreement. I believe it would be a mistake for | :09:57. | :10:01. | |
Ukraine if we do not have it. They will be consequences. Nobody is | :10:02. | :10:11. | |
interested in a new Cold War. It is in the interests of nobody. I hope | :10:12. | :10:13. | |
the Russian leadership has understood that. You have been | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
discussing Ukraine and all the other threats to security at the moment. | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
If you look at what is happening in the Middle East, Ethiopia, Iraq, | :10:24. | :10:32. | |
Syria, the rise of Islamic State, what is the greatest threat to | :10:33. | :10:39. | |
Europe? It is thought around 2000 of these jihadist fighters are | :10:40. | :10:48. | |
European. Another reason for solving the conflict with Russia. I have | :10:49. | :10:55. | |
said this to President Putin. He has united all of us against this threat | :10:56. | :11:01. | |
of extremism and fundamentalism coming from some parts of the | :11:02. | :11:08. | |
Islamic world. What did he say to you? I will not go into detail about | :11:09. | :11:17. | |
what he said. My position was we should work together with all the | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
countries of the world against this very serious threat. That is, a | :11:24. | :11:30. | |
terrorist state or terrorists who want to establish themselves as a | :11:31. | :11:32. | |
state. It is a threat of a new nature. It is very serious and poses | :11:33. | :11:39. | |
a problem to the security of Europe. Do you think European | :11:40. | :11:46. | |
governments have a clear strategy to stop these jihadist fighters coming | :11:47. | :11:52. | |
back into Europe? They had a brief stopover in Turkey and the next | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
thing you know, they are in Europe. It is a relatively new problem. | :11:57. | :12:04. | |
These jihadist fighters that have European citizenship. We have | :12:05. | :12:10. | |
proposed a kind of network of tracking the activity of this kind | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
of people. What I can tell you, I just came from a summit of Nato | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
where the European union was invited. I saw this at the top of | :12:20. | :12:28. | |
the agenda of concerns, not only of our American friends, but the | :12:29. | :12:30. | |
European leaders. This is the top priority for Europe. When you look | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
at what is going on in the room some, the president of the European | :12:36. | :12:38. | |
Central bank very clearly saying the growth we had seen in the Eurozone | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
is losing momentum. Even the great German economy is missing its growth | :12:45. | :12:47. | |
targets in the last couple of months. How worried are you? I think | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
we are going to overcome this situation. I remember where we were | :12:53. | :12:59. | |
sometime ago. Everybody was predicting the quick exit. They were | :13:00. | :13:07. | |
predicting the collapse of the row, the disintegration. We have shown | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
how resilient we are. I do not think we are going to fall into recession. | :13:13. | :13:18. | |
I welcome the measures announced by the European Central bank. There is | :13:19. | :13:24. | |
still some monetary policy to support growth in Europe. Plans for | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
some kind of stimulus programme, for reducing interest rates even more. | :13:30. | :13:37. | |
Also the ABS, the programme they have announced. All of these are | :13:38. | :13:40. | |
measures in the right direction. But there is a big debate and has been | :13:41. | :13:47. | |
revived again about these weak economic indicators in the Eurozone | :13:48. | :13:51. | |
saying that Germany emphasises austerity too much. President | :13:52. | :13:54. | |
Francois Hollande sang with have to convince our European partners to | :13:55. | :14:00. | |
make growth a priority. 26 million people out of work across the EU. Do | :14:01. | :14:03. | |
you think that if there are further stimulus measures taken in the | :14:04. | :14:09. | |
Eurozone that is going to set some countries on a collision course with | :14:10. | :14:10. | |
Germany? With Germany's growth, all of the | :14:11. | :14:22. | |
others are as well. The question is, the situation is different | :14:23. | :14:29. | |
across Europe. I think Germany have more, in terms of investment, and it | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
is a way of supporting grows in Europe. In terms of opening the | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
market that remains relatively close `` gross. They have a more expansive | :14:40. | :14:46. | |
monetary policy. They have already changed regularly. You mention the | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
need for countries like Greece, for example, to focus on the kind of | :14:52. | :14:55. | |
policies that the European Union says they have two sticks too. We | :14:56. | :15:02. | |
have seen a big backlash. `` to stick to. I pity you bought your | :15:03. | :15:08. | |
former economic adviser has said. Knows firsthand having worked with | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
you that EU institutions are not democratic enough. The mainstream | :15:14. | :15:20. | |
politicians slash spending on poor schoolchildren. `` he knows | :15:21. | :15:26. | |
firsthand. The European Union is a group of countries, 28 of them, and | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
you cannot expect everybody to think the same along the same lines | :15:32. | :15:35. | |
regarding the response to the crisis. I believe the response that | :15:36. | :15:42. | |
we have been doing was, generally speaking, the right one. It is very | :15:43. | :15:49. | |
easy now to have criticisms, that the people forget where you were. | :15:50. | :15:53. | |
For example, Greece, without the support of the European Union it | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
would be in a more difficult situation. That is the interesting | :15:58. | :16:00. | |
thing to note, that different oddments of Greece, and political | :16:01. | :16:09. | |
forces, they want to remain in Europe. They've done a lot for that | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
purpose. It was important that they did not create a situation. The | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
situation of Greece was created by irresponsible behaviour of the | :16:19. | :16:21. | |
governments of Greece. Do you not accept that there is a question of | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
democratic accountability? We saw in the May elections of the European | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
Parliament, there was the rise, in some countries, of the anti` EU | :16:31. | :16:40. | |
vote. With UKIP, in Great Britain. The French said this was a wake`up | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
call for all of Europe. Of course. We should look at what is not going | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
well. In the European Union and member states. I think many of the | :16:50. | :16:56. | |
causes of this behaviour have to do with national politics. There is | :16:57. | :17:02. | |
disappointment, in many of our countries, it towards the | :17:03. | :17:05. | |
governments and how they have handled the situation. It is a | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
complete mistake to put the blame on the European Union. I know that is | :17:10. | :17:17. | |
easy. People say it is our problem when things go wrong, it is the | :17:18. | :17:21. | |
fault of Brussels. There is the design now of the ever closer union, | :17:22. | :17:27. | |
going now towards the European Union dream. That is not necessarily | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
something voters back. We saw referendums on the proposed EU | :17:32. | :17:34. | |
Constitution at the time being rejected in several countries. Apart | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
from what their own national governments are doing, there is a | :17:39. | :17:46. | |
disaffection that people like Philip LaGrande talk about. And the impact | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
on their lives. There is a problem, and we are working on it. The | :17:52. | :17:55. | |
solution is not to disintegrate Europe. That will be a real | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
mistake. On the contrary. What we need, is a more coherent European | :18:01. | :18:10. | |
Union, more integrated. If there are more mechanisms of legitimacy and | :18:11. | :18:13. | |
accountability, I'm for democracy. I've been elected all my life, since | :18:14. | :18:20. | |
I was 29. I'm for democracy. I'm not a bureaucrat. The question is, and | :18:21. | :18:27. | |
that I don't like, is national politicians putting the blame on | :18:28. | :18:33. | |
Europe of their own... Of things of their own responsibility. If David | :18:34. | :18:37. | |
Cameron was doing that, when he says I am proposing a referendum as to | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
whether Britain stays in the EU or not... ? This is a decision for the | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
British people to take. I respect democracy. Do you agree with the | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
Polish prime minister, due to take over as the president of the | :18:53. | :18:54. | |
European Council, he says no reasonable person can imagine an EU | :18:55. | :19:02. | |
without the UK? I agree. We appreciate the support a lot from | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
the UK, and Europe. It is good Europe. The current development, in | :19:07. | :19:09. | |
terms of security, should lead for all of us to be more united. We are | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
strongly united. Our countries, including Britain, are stronger | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
united. Of course, that's up to the British people to decide. If they | :19:20. | :19:22. | |
want to, or not, to be European Union. You have been the commission | :19:23. | :19:28. | |
president of the ten years. You came in when there was a huge wave of | :19:29. | :19:37. | |
enlargement, expanded from 15 members to 28. Use countries in the | :19:38. | :19:40. | |
former Soviet bloc, Nym. Now, at the end of your tenure. There is a bit | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
of a mess when you look around. The Eurozone crisis was behind us. It | :19:46. | :19:52. | |
has been described as weak and faltering. We see the borders of | :19:53. | :19:57. | |
Europe, admittedly not in the EU, changing for the first time since | :19:58. | :20:00. | |
the Second World War. It looks pretty untidy, doesn't it? It is | :20:01. | :20:09. | |
challenging, but I am excited. We have lived through crisis all the | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
time. Don't forget, the first crisis was the non` ratification of the | :20:15. | :20:18. | |
constitutional treaty. We solved with the Lisbon Treaty. All of the | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
country supported it. But now Britain wants see it, perhaps, | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
looked at and reformed. But anyway. It has probably had its time. | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
Secondly, you mentioned, rightly, that during this time, we have | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
almost doubled our membership from 15 to 28 member states. Is that not | :20:41. | :20:44. | |
the greatest success over? In European history, for the first | :20:45. | :20:50. | |
time, we have almost the entire continent united around the values | :20:51. | :20:53. | |
of peace and democracy. Is that the case, when you have the Hungarian | :20:54. | :20:58. | |
prime minister saying he had admiration for the liberal countries | :20:59. | :21:02. | |
like Russia? There are some issues, regarding the rule in Hungary. And | :21:03. | :21:10. | |
we will address them. But look, the Prime Minister was democratically | :21:11. | :21:17. | |
elected in Hungary. And we will respect the principles of democracy. | :21:18. | :21:23. | |
Nothing to do with Hungary, when it was a totalitarian region. The | :21:24. | :21:30. | |
conclusion is drawn. That is why I disagree with the idea that is now | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
very fashionable, that Europeans are worse now than they were before. | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
It's untrue. Europe is stronger today, stronger than the Americans, | :21:41. | :21:48. | |
Chinese, and the Russians, they look at us because we are becoming a | :21:49. | :21:53. | |
continental power. That is more important. Regarding the financial | :21:54. | :21:57. | |
crisis. I remember when everyone, including many people that we | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
interviewed, were predicting the end of the euro. I'm predicting the | :22:02. | :22:04. | |
collapse of the European Union. Here we are. Still, a lot has to be | :22:05. | :22:14. | |
done. But we have shown resilience. There are integration forces in | :22:15. | :22:17. | |
Europe that are stronger than the forces of fragmentation. Do you | :22:18. | :22:21. | |
believe you've done a good job? I've done my best. I'm not saying | :22:22. | :22:27. | |
everything was perfect. All Bruce Volpi `` all reasonable people would | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
recognise the circumstances keeping 28 country is united, and keeping | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
Europe open and united, regarding trade, that is a good job. That is | :22:37. | :22:42. | |
your political epitaph, at the European commission? Europe is today | :22:43. | :22:47. | |
united and open. It was a huge task to keep it during this crisis and I | :22:48. | :22:55. | |
believe because of that Europe is stronger now. Our countries have | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
been reforming in the sense of becoming more competitive. I'm not | :23:00. | :23:02. | |
saying everything is perfect. But look, compared to other areas of the | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
world, frankly, Europe is one of the most, let's say, distant parts of | :23:08. | :23:15. | |
the world. In terms of quality of life. Not many have the problems we | :23:16. | :23:19. | |
have. You are still a young man, not yet | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
60! There are presidential elections in your native Portugal in 2016. | :23:25. | :23:31. | |
Would you run them? No. Almost now, for 30 years, I haven't had... I've | :23:32. | :23:38. | |
only had a small interruption. I know in politics. I started out as | :23:39. | :23:47. | |
junior minister when I was 29. I have been Foreign Minister and Prime | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
Minister, and now in the European Commission, I at least deserve a | :23:53. | :24:00. | |
pause from politics! Comeback to Lake Como and relax a bit! I will be | :24:01. | :24:04. | |
a free ban from the 1st of November and I am happy with that. Jose | :24:05. | :24:08. | |
Manuel Barroso, thank you very much indeed becoming a HARDtalk. `` a | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
freeman. Thank you. Good morning, if you need a lengthy | :24:14. | :24:45. | |
spell of dry weather to get outdoor jobs done, this is the weekly you. I | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
pressure is in charge, moving and across the UK through tonight, and | :24:50. | :24:54. | |
you will notice we are in the middle of the high pressure `` high | :24:55. | :24:58. | |
pressure. Some light winds here. The temperature drops like stone. Some | :24:59. | :25:02. | |
double figures in towns and city centres, but in rural areas | :25:03. | :25:03. | |
temperatures | :25:04. | :25:04. |