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Thousands of supporters of far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro have descended on Brazil's economic and political capitals, hoping to rally behind the embattled president, sparking fears of a military coup. Bolsonaro is expected to address packed Independence Day rallies in Brasilia and Sao Paulo on Tuesday. The president has called for support for his attacks on the country's Supreme Court that has raised fears around South America's largest democracy. Bolsonaro on August 14 called on the Senate to bring charges against two Supreme Court justices, warning Brazil could face a political "institutional rupture" if the charges were not brought. One...

Nigel Farage blasted Brussels chief Guy Verhofstadt, for his apparent calls for a “European empire”, telling it straight that the EU is “building an empire”. The Brexit Party leader took to his LBC show after comments by Guy Verhofstadt about a “European empire”. Mr. Farage said: “Andrew Adonis, who of course I’ve spoken to you many times before here at LBC, is really one of the fanatics for ‘Remain’. Even Adonis said, ‘I don’t believe in a European Empire but a free European Union; the world has had enough of empires’. Well, hear-hear to that, Lord Adonis, but that is...

France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has called for Europe to become an “empire” to compete with the United States after the country’s President Emmanuel Macron called for an EU army to defend against the NATO ally.

The former president of the of the European Commission, the European Union’s (EU) unelected executive arm, has been recruited as the new boss of international operations at Goldman Sachs, who funded the official anti-Brexit campaign. In May, in the run-up to the referendum, figures released by the Electoral Commission revealed that Goldman Sachs had quietly donated £500,000 to Britain Stronger in Europe – the official, government back anti-Brexit campaign – shortly before February when donations had to be declared.

With two weeks to go until he is formally out of office and, as of yet, with no fixed onward job, Jose Manuel Barroso is a politician concerned with his legacy. […] He argues the EU has emerged stronger from the crisis, equipped with around 40 new pieces of legislation dealing with financial supervision—and a whole lot more power for the European Commission. “We have powers that our predecessors could not even dream of,” he says, highlighting the commission’s new right to “reject” draft national budgets. […] Asked about the roots of euroskepticism—a stronger political phenomenon in recent years—he says...

Commission President José Manuel Barroso was pelted with eggs by youths who blamed him for austerity policies and the death of migrants in Lampedusa, during a debate on Europe’s future in Liège, Belgium. According to Europa Press, the eggs did not reach Barroso or any of the other participants to the debate, which included Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, but left marks on the scene where they were seated. The two youngsters were taken out of the room and the debate reportedly continued normally. …

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso’s trip to the Italian island of Lampedusa began with boos and shouts of “shame” and “murderers” from some of the residents, TV footage has shown. In the meantime, lawmakers prepared to re-examine the EU’s border surveillance systems. EurActiv France reports. Barroso, EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano paid a visit yesterday (9 October) to Lampedusa, the small Italian island near the coast of which some 270 immigrants drowned in a shipwreck last week. …

Commission President José Manuel Barroso said that while the EU was “ridiculed” for its handling of the eurozone crisis, he would not criticize the United States for its budget deadlock as this was a “normal” result of democracy. The United States government fell into a partial shutdown at midnight on 1 October after Republican and Democrat leaders failed to strike a deal over the budget. Markets largely ignored the deadlock, but economists have said it would most likely have a broader impact if it last for more than a few days, and could potentially drag further down an economic recovery...

The European Union and the eurozone have already taken important federalist steps to counter the debt crisis, which go beyond mere economic governance, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said yesterday (22 April) at the 2013 Think Tank Dialogue. A few months after his state of the Union address, in which he called for turning the EU into “a federation of nation states,” the Commission chief tried to dissipate fears about federalism. “More integration is simply indispensable for our economy, to shield us from international rough weather to face strong completion and maintain the trust of markets and investors,” Barroso...

The EU-Russia summit ended today (21 December) with no major decisions, but Russian President Vladimir Putin staged a show for the press, telling Commission President José Manuel Barroso that he was “not right” in his interpretation of energy liberalization rules. … “My friend from many years, Mr. Barroso, has for so long and so emotionally spoken, because he knew that he is not right; he is guilty,” Putin said, amidst laughter from the sizable Russian delegation. Turning to the press, he added: “Open Article 34 of our basic treaty with the EU and read for yourselves.” Article 34 of the...

European commission President Jose Manuel Barroso should stand for an unprecedented third term in office, one of his senior colleagues has said. "With Jose Manuel Barroso, we have a very good and active President, who I admire for his strength, his legal mind, his patience and his wisdom in managing the current crisis," Viviane Reding, in charge of justice, told EurActiv Italy. "My personal wish would be that Jose Manuel stays on for a third term. Because I am sure that we need continuity and stability at the helm of governments in the years to come to continue to make...

José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, met on Monday with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The two leaders “discussed the importance of expanding cooperation between Israel and Europe in all areas, Iran's effort to arm itself with nuclear weapons and the resumption of the peace talks with the Palestinians,” Netanyahu's office said in a statement quoted by AFP. European Union officials said in a statement that the two leaders “also discussed the regional situation with president Barroso stating the EU's support for democratic change and political and economic reforms in the wider neighborhood.” The statement added, “They also...

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has pledged support for a future Palestinian state on his first official trip to the region. Speaking alongside Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Ramallah on Sunday (8 July) he said that "through our … political and financial support, we are laying the foundations of a future democratic and viable Palestinian state—its institutions and its infrastructure." He voiced "concern" about "the continuous growth of [Irsaeli] settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem."He also "welcomed" the prospect of a unity government between the more moderate Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the militant...

Addressing the European Parliament yesterday (3 July) in Strasbourg, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso slammed British euroskeptics for their divisive behavior and taking pleasure in the eurozone's troubles. "Let me tell you that it is puzzling that you seem to delight in the difficulties of the euro area," Barroso told the British Tories, adding that this was in stark contrast with the position taken by Prime Minister David Cameron. Barroso was taking aim especially at Conservative MEP Martin Callanan, who has repeatedly criticized bank bailouts as wasting taxpayers' money and talked in favor of eurozone exits for some countries....

The G-20 summit off to a great start if you like fireworks, endless bickering, and finger-pointing. Otherwise these summits are totally useless. When asked by a Canadian journalist "Why should North Americans risk their assets to help Europe?" EC President José Barroso replied "Frankly, we are not here to receive lessons in terms of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy." The Guardian has further details in Barroso blames eurozone crisis on US banks. The opening day of the G20 summit was threatening to deteriorate into a fractious row between eurozone countries and other non-European members of...

The European Commission has defended its proposal to introduce a financial transaction tax (FTT), saying that it could substantially reduce member states' contributions to the EU budget. José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, said today (22 March) that the use of an FTT to finance part of the EU budget would give the EU the funds it needed to pay for priority programs on jobs and growth.He told a conference of MEPs and national parliamentarians from across the EU in Brussels that if the EU's budget was funded by an FTT, it would cut national contributions by half. …...

The international financial crisis has set off a radical change in thinking in Britain about the euro, EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said Sunday. While acknowledging the majority opposition in Britain to embracing the euro, Barroso told French radio: "We are now closer than ever before." He added: "I'm not going to break the confidentiality of certain conversations, but some British politicians have already told me: 'If we had the euro, we would have been better off'." Sterling has suffered major falls in the credit crunch which has seen Britain, like other governments, spend massively in recent months to...

The tension at the summit was palpable, one EU official said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has told Russia that any problems it has with an individual EU state are problems with the whole bloc.Speaking at an EU-Russian summit, Mr Barroso said the EU was based on principles of solidarity. The summit, near the city of Samara, was marred by Moscow's rows with countries including Estonia and Poland. Disputes between Moscow and Brussels have also arisen over the status of Kosovo, energy supplies and trade. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, expressed concern...

Barroso disappointed at lack of EU support for Pope BERLIN (Reuters) - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was quoted as saying on Saturday that more European leaders should have spoken out in support of the Pope after he made controversial comments on Islam. "I was disappointed there were not more European leaders who said 'naturally the Pope has the right to express his views'," Barroso was quoted as saying to the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. "The problem is not the statements of the Pope but the reaction of the extremists," the paper quoted him as saying in a preview...

THE SUPRANATIONAL MOVEMENT AND THE DANGEROUS POLICIES IT CREATES I do call it Conspiracy (Part 1 of a Three-Part Series) by Don Laigle Last Tuesday, during the EU-US summit with President Bush, EU President José Barroso innocently asked for visa-free travel to the US for all European citizens. Barroso, of all people, ought to know the risk this would pose for the American people. Because the president of his home country, socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, is behind an open border policy (see Part 2 of this report at Laigles Forum) that has even ranking EU officials feeling uneasy, and...