José Manuel Barroso, President of the EC, went to Bratislava where he participated in the meeting of Friends of Cohesion Group with Robert Fico, Slovak Prime Minister. During the joint press conference José Manuel Barroso urged both the "Friends of cohesion" and the "Friends of better spending" to unite in the European Council as the Friends of Growth – sustainable growth.
He then stressed that the Brussels European Council of 18-19/10/2012 would try to reach an agreement on the Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020. The President pointed out the importance of cohesion policy as an investment in growth, people and competitiveness. He also added that structural funds account for a significant proportion of public investment in Europe – more than half of all public investment in several member states.

Type: College   Reference: I-074762   Date: 08/10/2012   Duration: 02:14