State of the Union 2013: “There is no way back to business as usual”

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, gave today his annual State of the European Union speech at the European Union Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg. In his speech, Barroso said: “Make no mistake. There is no way back to business as usual. Some people believe that after this, everything will go back to the way it was before. They are wrong. We will not go back to the ‘old’ normal, we have to shape a ‘new’ normal”.

Commenting on these statements, President of Cooperatives Europe Dirk J. Lehnhoff, emphasized: “We welcome Barroso’s recognition that business as usual will not work anymore.  This implies as well to leave the EU’s ‘one size fits all’ business policy approach behind. Europe’s plurality of business forms needs to find its expression in differentiated policy making in the EU. Cooperatives are one of those option for the ‘new’ normal in getting Europe out of its most severe economic and social crisis. Cooperatives will strive to put people’s needs and aspirations back at the heart of European EU enterprise policy as well as rebalancing the economic ownership in Europe ”.

Read the entire Barroso’s speech in here.