Barroso: Less talk, more action

The head of the European Commission today called for action and not words when EU leaders gather in Brussels tomorrow to discuss the financial crisis.

Jose Manuel Barroso, aware of growing criticism that a string of similar meetings have produced pledges of co-ordinated moves to beat the recession, said the need now was for “implementation, not gesticulation”.

His call came after European trade union chief John Monks also called for European leadership to deliver answers.

European leaders will be meeting for two days of talks covering the economy, energy security and climate change.

But the focus will be on whether the 27 leaders can produce fresh ideas in the wake of a series of similar declarations that the EU is was working together on answers to kick start ailing economies.

Mr Barroso, speaking in Brussels, said: “What our citizens need now is not words, they need action. I’ve said it before: implementation, not gesticulation.”

He said Europe needed to implement its economic recovery plan, its “fiscal stimulus” to curb job losses and reduce non-wage costs to ease pressure on employers.

He went on: “There is now I think an unprecedented consensus on principles. We hope the European Council (summit) will give a clear mandate for the Commission to come forward with detailed measures over the next few months. And it must make an unequivocal commitment that member states will agree swiftly on those measures.”

Mr Barroso said he was confident of reaching consensus and that the summit would “make progress in the overall fight against this economic and financial crisis”.

But for some the timetable is too slow. Mr Monks warned: “We are now facing a recession turning into a depression and things will continue to deteriorate if policymakers do not act adequately to halt this tailspin.”

He went on: “We urgently need European leadership to organise a European-wide answer to the collapse of employment and economic activity.

“We need European leadership to provide member states with the financial means to fight the crisis and its social consequences. We need European leadership to fight financial markets’ liberal bias and to prevent financial market speculation from turning into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“We need European leadership to stop rigid rules from continuing to inflict serious damage to our economies. We need European leadership to avoid protectionism and social dumping.”

EU leaders have already agreed tighter regulation in all financial sectors, along with central EU monitoring of banks and financial institutions, and an early warning system to spot future economic storm clouds.

Mr Brown hopes his G20 meeting will be the stage for a comprehensive agreement, including America, and has set his sights on having accords in place by the June EU summit.

Before then, the EU has now scheduled a summit in May to discuss jobs.

But for officials in Brussels the diet of summit declarations on the crisis risks indigestion: the draft conclusions for the latest Brussels meeting talk about agreeing to “rapidly deliver” reforms to establish responsible financial markets for the future.

And they express EU leaders’ confidence on the medium-term economic outlook.

One Commission official said: “The problem is that, as long as there is another summit around the corner – and at the moment they are queuing up – the temptation is to treat each one as a rehearsal for the next one.”