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| José Manuel Barroso |
David Cameron and other European Union leaders need to show the same political courage and vision of Winston Churchill's call for "a kind of United States of Europe", José Manuel Barroso has said.
The European Commission president has urged the EU of today to emulate the wartime British Conservative leader's call, made in a 1948 speech, for deeper integration in Europe.
"He was a man of foresight with an acute sense of history, often ahead of prevailing opinion, never shying away from saying what some might choose to ignore," he said.
"In today's fast-changing world, we certainly need the same geopolitical intelligence and strategic vision. We need the same courage to think beyond the immediacy of the next news cycle."
In comments that will be seen as an implicit criticism of the contemporary British Conservative Prime Minister, David Cameron, Mr Barroso called on the current generation of European leaders to show the same Churchillian vision and courage.
"Churchill rightly said in 1948: 'We must aim at nothing less than the Union of Europe as a whole, and we look forward with confidence to the day when the Union will be achieved'," he said.
"We need to resist vested interests and short-termism. We need to have the courage to think ahead and be able to project and shape change - that's what leadership is about." » | Bruno Waterfield, Brussels | Friday, November 08, 2013
My comment:
I would like to say what Sir Winston Churchill said at the end of his speech at the University of Zürich: "Let Europe arise!" I should also like to add: Let us go forward together, with a common purpose. – © Mark
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My second comment is here
