Barroso aims to set record straight on austerity during UCC visit

The image of the European Commission as pushing austerity and creating difficulties for Ireland is wrong, the Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso will say today when he is awarded a honorary degree by University College Cork.

He personally made the case to lower the interest rate on the bailout funds and give the loans for a longer period of time and he supports the Irish case for special treatment to improve “the sustainability of the well-performing programme” as set out in the June 2012 statement from EU leaders.

“The European Commission has always been on the side of Ireland, one could even say one of your best friends,” he said.