Barroso: "Andean countries can overcome differences"

Lima, May 16, 2008.- The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, asked the Andean Community member countries yesterday to make the necessary efforts to overcome their differences, because --he said-- “integration is for the long term, not the short.” 

He made the request when he spoke at the official ceremony held in his honor during his visit to the headquarters of the Andean Community General Secretariat. “The truth is that the EU was able to overcome differences in development and ideological differences among governments and we believe the CAN countries can do likewise,” he stated. 

Barroso explained that integration is a process with many back and forths, but that it is a course that should lead forward.  “It is the essential condition for prosperity, for peace, for freedom and for citizenship,” he stressed.  

He noted that the relationship between the EU and the CAN started almost as of the very beginning of Andean integration, with the visit of several representatives of the European Commission, especially Ziko Mansfield, who, on May 20, 1972, envisaged the environmental effects of uncontrolled development and proposed the adoption of an economic and social policy to cope with this global challenge.   

“Mansfield’s proposal could be summarized as replacing the growth dynamic by harmonizing order.  Unfortunately, --he pointed out-- his request did not receive the response it deserved.  Only now, 36 years later, when some of the damage is already irreversible, are we beginning to fully understand the need for immediate action.”   

For this reason, he stated, the European Commission has put forward a series of measures to offset climate change and an environmental Action Plan to fight climate change in Latin America, called Euroclimate. 

“We cannot wage this struggle by ourselves.  Multilateral cooperation is essential --he added-- and subregional integration is a key element for confronting this and other global challenges.” 

The President of the European Commission was awarded a distinction by the Andean Community during the official ceremony held in his honor, and was declared an “Honorary Andean Citizen.”