European Commission

José Manuel Durão Barroso

President of the European Commission

Speech by President Barroso at the European Parliamentary Week on the European Semester for Economic Policy Coordination

European Parliamentary Week/Brussels

30 January 2013

President Schulz

President van Rompuy,

President of the Irish Dáil, Seán Barrett,

Mesdames et Monsieurs les rapporteurs, Sharon Bowles, Alain Lamassoure, Pervenche Berès,

Distinguished Members of Parliament, the European Parliament and national parliaments,

Let me start by congratulating you all, the European and the national Parliaments of the EU, for organising this event. I welcome that the European Parliamentary Week has become an integral part of our European Semester.

And I encourage you to even further strengthen inter-parliamentary dialogue and cooperation in the years to come.

Let me also apologise that I have to leave you soon because I've already postponeded the European Commission meeting to 10h so I could participate in the opening session but Commissioner Vice-President Maroš Šef