UEF President Andrew Duff has welcomed the 'state of the Union' speech by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. Speaking from Strasbourg today (Tuesday) Duff said:
"President Barroso has raised the stakes. He has joined those of us who have been arguing for a long time that the EU must finally marry its financial resources to its political priorities. The entry into force of the Lisbon treaty has largely expanded the scope of the Union's activities in interior as well as external affairs. The EU needs more spending power to make a reality of its new competences.
"The economic crisis also accelerates the pace of European integration. The big test for the Union, now taken on by the Commission, is to produce a joined up common economic and monetary policy which combines a return to fiscal rectitude with the drive towards economic recovery.
"This implies two things. First, we must prepare for a transfer of expenditure from national state budgets to the EU budget where cost efficiencies and economies of scale can be achieved. There are many instances -- for example, in foreign affairs, defence, R&D, energy and transport -- where every euro spent at the EU level goes further than euros spent nationally.
"Secondly, we need to find new sources of revenue for the Union, so the old battle between national treasuries, between net donors and net beneficiaries, can be put behind us. An EU carbon tax or an EU tax on banks are two options among many which must be considered. The citizen will respond well to a new financial system of the Union that is transparent and progressive, and which allows the EU to produce much-needed public goods that go to meet many future challenges."
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Mr Duff is co-chair of the Federalist Intergroup in the European Parliament and President of the Union of European Federalists. He was a member of the Convention on the Future of Europe and was one of three representatives of the Parliament at the Intergovernmental Conference, which drafted the Lisbon treaty.
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