Unite in face of crisis, or perish, Barroso tells Europe's leaders

The European Union must "unite or face irrelevance" in the face of the spiralling Italian debt crisis, the president of the European commission has warned. Jose Manuel Barroso said that the world was facing fundamental changes to the economic order, so the European countries had to stand together. Amid reports from Brussels that Germany and France had begun preliminary talks on a break-up of the eurozone, Barroso said a divided EU would no longer work. "The challenge is how to further deepen euro-area integration, without creating divisions with those who are not yet in it," he said. In a speech in Berlin he challenged "responsible" EU leaders to "make the case for Europe". "The world needs a stronger Europe: more Europe, not less. Yet there are some in Europe who claim that their country does not need the rest of Europe," he said. "This is ignoring the global realities, as well as our common history that teaches us that this continent is simply too small and too interdependent for us to stand apart. To turn our backs to each other." Barroso said that the argument for "going it alone" defied economic rationality. "We are witnessing fundamental changes to the economic and geopolitical order that have convinced me Europe needs to advance now together, or risk fragmentation. Europe must either transform itself, or it will decline. We are in a defining moment where we either unite or face irrelevance," he said. If the 17 eurozone member states, or the entire 27-country European Union were to break apart, he said, the estimated initial cost was up to 50% of the union's GDP, with ongoing threats to the prosperity of the next generation. "That is why all responsible leaders must now make the case for Europe. Make the case for strength through unity. We must engage our citizens in an honest and frank debate about Europe, about its assets and its shortcomings, about its potential and its future." Barroso denied that a stronger EU was about "power-grabbing". He said: "The EU was created for moments such as these. We must collectively stand behind it. We must give it the tools it needs to make Europe stronger."