Barroso Calls for EU Federation

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has called for an EU federation of nation states, saying that the EU needs a political union in order to evolve.

A debate will be held before a convention is organised towards this end, he said in his state of the union speech. European elections in 2014 can be decisive, and the Commission will present its outline for a federation before 2014, he said.

Barroso rejected the idea of a super state in favour of a federation, he said.

"In Europe, we need no more walls dividing us," he said.

No one will be forced to come along or to stay out of the federation, which will be based on the existing union and its institutions, said Barroso.

On the economic front, the president of the Commission called for reform in vulnerable countries like Greece and said that growth can only be maintained if the EU is more competitive. Greece can turn the corner this autumn if it banishes all doubts about economic reform, he said.

So far, the EU has been mainly an economic union, but the recent sovereign debt and financial markets crises created a trend of closer supervision from EU institutions and a political union like a federation appears to be the next logical step. The question is whether countries like the UK, which has stayed out of the monetary union, would ever accept being part of a federation.

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