Europe and the Challenges of Globalization

John

European Union

Summary

"Europe and the challenges of globalization"

St. Antony's College Lecture

Oxford, 11 October 2007

This lecture was given by Jose Manuel Barroso, who is the president of the European Commission. Barrosa gave this lecture at St Antony's College in Oxford; He focused on such issues as climate change, increased global competition, poverty, all of which are linked to globalization. Barroso also talks about the success of the European Union, and its debates on how to expand and how to run the European Union. In this summary I will focus on the main points of Barroso's lecture to help you have a quick understanding of what he was trying to get across.

Early on in the lecture Barroso starts out by quoting John Stuart Mill. He quotes Mills to make the point that Europe's unique strength is its capacity to combine unity with diversity. He relates this with Jean Monnet's gradualist approach to European integration, which he claims is inexorably leading towards a centralized superstate. He stresses the importance of the European Union working together where there is a common interest in achieving results. He claims that what Emerges is a community of shared values, which is what the Union should continue to be and to strive for. He claims that Jean Monnet's step-by-step approach is helping the whole purpose of the European Union Evolve as well. T has helped secure peace, create the single market and currency as well as increase from six member states to twenty-seven member states.

Barroso then began to speak about globalization, and the many challenges linked to it. These challenges like I mentioned before are climate change, global competition, mass migration, poverty, as well as Terrorism. He continues to say that all these challenges have two things in common. For one they affect us all, secondly no nation state, no matter how big, can tackle them successfully on their own. He talks about how the European Union has become an affective instrument for developing solutions to the new, cross-border challenges thrown up by globalization. He stresses that the climate healthy global Europe must be an open Europe. He claims that Europe can and must resist those whose response to globalization is to retreat behind protectionist barricades. Later in the lecture he comments about European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. Barroso also goes on to say that they intend to reduce greenhouse emissions by 20% in 2020, however he also claims that they will be even more radical by cutting up to 30% by 2020 if other developed countries join them.

Later on Barroso talks about Africa's fight