Barroso issues rallying call for solidarity

EUROPE must unite to tackle the eurozone debt crisis or risk fragmentation, decline and irrelevance, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said yesterday.

Mr Barroso’s solidarity call, in a commentary for The Observer newspaper, seemed particularly aimed at Britain, where the eurozone debt crisis has fuelled an already strong eurosceptic strain.

“As we witness fundamental changes to the economic and geopolitical order, Europe needs to advance together or risk fragmentation,” Mr Barroso said.