Interviews
Limiting bonus capping: a question of ethics
20/09/2009
Before heading for New York and then Pittsburgh for two critical dates, President Barroso agreed to participate in ‘Internationales’, the politics show on French-language television channel TV5, produced in partnership with Radio RFI and Le Monde newspaper. When asked about the burning issue of bonus capping, he said that even if the Americans did not follow, Europe should take the lead. ‘It’s a question of legitimacy; I am in favour of freedom of financial markets, but freedom also calls for rules […] What is happening is so outrageous, it is really an ethical problem and I think that on this subject, if necessary, we will have to go it alone’. However, President Barroso refrained from making any predictions four days before the opening of the G20.
The split in the socialist family
The abandonment of the American anti-missile shield
Relations between the Commission and the Council in the context of the Lisbon Treaty
Barely re-elected, the President faces major challenges
17/09/2009
In the middle of a busy week which included his re-election by MEPs, an informal meeting of the heads of state and government, and a visit to Ireland, President Barroso answered questions from the Belgian television channel Kanaal Z. The interview, which lasted more than 13 minutes, focuses in particular on compliance with European competition rules in the Opel case, Ireland’s possible rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, and the relationship between José Manuel Barroso and Guy Verhofstadt, the new leader of the Liberal group in the European Parliament.
Compliance with the rules on competition