A biography for Jose Manuel Barrosohasn’t been written yet.
“My mother wanted me to be a professor, because I have several people in my family who are professors at university.”
“Usually I don't comment on comments of others.”
“What people call serendipity sometimes is just having your eyes open.”
“The dynamic of globalisation in financial and economic terms, but also in geopolitical terms, confronts Europeans with a stark choice: live together, share a common destiny and count in the world; or face the prospect of disunity and decline.”
“The E.U. is founded on the Treaties which apply only to the Member States who have agreed and ratified them.”
“For investor confidence, it is important that there is certainty about the future of Ireland in E.U.”
“I believe that Europe without Britain at the heart will be less reform-driven, less open, less international Europe.”
“The new narrative for Europe should be about the need to have a responsible organisation, the need to be able to defend our interests and promote our values, like human rights.”
“I'll put it frankly - Britain has more influence in China than Norway or Switzerland, with all respect for the other countries.”
“In the age of globalisation, pooled sovereignty means more power, not less.”
“A new state, if it wants to join the European Union, has to apply to become a member of the European Union like any state.”
“You see in times of crisis that extremist forces, populist forces, have a better ground to oversimplify things and to manipulate feelings. Feelings of fear.”
“Norway or Switzerland are two marvelous countries, I very much admire, the most advanced countries in the world in fact with great qualities of life.”
“I don't know why my son was born conservative.”
“Decisions taken by the most democratic institutions in the world are very often wrong.”
“I think diversity can also be a resource, an asset, especially in a world that is becoming globalized, to deal with difference, to deal with variety, to deal with complexity.”
“I very often compare relations between states to relations with people. Sometimes we are nicer to those we don't know well, who are not our friends, than we are to our friends, because with our friends we don't need to be nice all the time.”
“You have to understand that to have a revolution when you are 18 years old is completely different from normal political leaders who were born in a democracy and will die in a democracy and never to have experienced that change. I have seen that change.”
“Governments are not always right.”
“Smart, sustainable, inclusive growth is the key to job-creation and the future prosperity of Europe.”