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Towards a federation of nation states - 12/09/2012
In the 2012 State of the Union address, President Barroso proposed that the EU move towards becoming a federation of nation states. He also announced a blueprint for the autumn on deepening economic and monetary union.
In his 2012 State of the Union address, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso made a strong case for a new direction and a new thinking for Europe.
He sketched out a path towards greater European unity to overcome the crisis and maintain sovereignty in a globalised world. "Globalisation demands more European unity. More unity demands more integration. More integration demands more democracy," he said. He presented to the European Parliament a 'decisive deal for Europe' that "requires the completion of a deep and genuine economic union, based on a political union."
He also presented the Commission proposal on the common supervision of eurozone banks 
as a stepping stone to banking union. The European Central Bank would gain supervisory powers for all banks to prevent bank failures and protect depositors.
During the speech, Barroso also:
- argued for the development of a European public space
- outlined the steps of further integration and called for a wide debate ahead of the European elections in 2014
- referred to the Commission's proposal for a better statute for European political parties and suggested that the main parties present their own candidates for the post of the next Commission President.
Citizens can submit questions to President Barroso about the State of the Union until 18 September on EUtube. He will answer them in a live interview on 19 September at 19.00 CET, which will be broadcast on the Euronews network and website, on EUtube, on the Commission’s Google+ page, on Europe by Satellite and the President's website.
More on http://www.ec.europa.eu/soteu2012/ the State of the Union address
