Europe

Home page

Europe

Upcoming EU summit to focus on economic growth: Barroso

16 May 2012 19:15 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The June European Council will focus on growth initiative, said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Wednesday, APA reports quoting .

The European Commission would push for progress on proposals that had been put forward, Barroso said during a weekly meeting of the Commission.

"So it is time to agree on these proposals," said Barroso.

He urged Member States to swiftly give the Commission a mandate to start negotiations on tax evasion and tax fraud, and expressed regret for two Member States’ veto during ECOFIN meeting Tuesday to a mandate for EU to negotiate with third parties.

"There is no easy road to growth, but an intensification of reforms at both the national and the European levels can help," Barroso said.

He also urged Greek people to take a wise decision in upcoming election, and pledged at the same time EU would respect Greek people’s decision.

"It will now be for the Greek people to take a fully informed decision on the alternatives, having in mind that this will be indeed an historic election," said Barroso.

"Greece is part of our family. Greece is a very important Member State in the European Union. We want Greece to remain a part of our European family, of the European Union and of the euro," he said.