Barroso spells out priorities for EU summit

Brussels - European Union leaders should agree on ways to preserve jobs during the recession and strengthen the bloc's financial oversight at this week's summit in Brussels, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Tuesday. In a letter addressed to EU heads of state and government, the head of the EU executive said the summit should also finalize the EU's position on how to tackle climate change ahead of a crucial December meeting in Copenhagen, and should find ways of helping Italy and Malta deal with the seemingly unstoppable influx of immigrants reaching the bloc via the Mediterranean Sea. Barroso, a former conservative prime minister from Portugal, is vying for a second term as commission chief and hopes to receive a political endorsement to this effect from EU leaders during the Thursday and Friday gathering. Observers said the letter he sent on Tuesday revealed an eagerness to put his footprint on the June council meeting. Ways to deal with Europe's worst economic crisis in decades topped his list of priorities, with the protection of jobs high on his agenda. Officials said Barroso was urging presidents and prime ministers to take 'tangible steps to keep people in employment, maintain viable jobs and help unemployed people back into work.' The commission wants to see at least 5 million apprenticeships created in 2009-2010 and is making 19 billion euros (26 billion dollars) in community funds available to member states. But Barroso said leaders should also begin to consider how to rein in public spending once the recession is over. The commission president also pushed for 'strong consensus' on an improved oversight of the bloc's banks and financial markets through the creation of European supervisory bodies, his spokesman, Johannes Laitenberger said. At last week's meeting in Luxembourg, EU finance ministers gave their broad backing to the commission's plans, but only after overcoming some stiff resistance from Britain, home to the EU's most important financial centre - the City of London. EU experts have predicted more political wrangling on the issue at the summit. An agreement at this week's meeting would allow the commission to begin drafting a legislative proposal on financial supervision over the summer. Finally, Barroso asked EU leaders to provide the right legally binding guarantees to Ireland so as to boost its chances of endorsing the bloc's reforming Lisbon Treaty in a new referendum likely to take place in the autumn. The treaty has been stalled since it was rejected by Irish citizens in a similar referendum held last year. During the summit, the commission president also planned to illustrate to EU leaders his manifesto for his second term in office, should he be picked. So far, no rival candidates have emerged.