MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

EC warns about temptation of protectionism

EC boss Jose Manuel Barroso

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso admitted that the current global financial downturn implies a growing risk of increasing protectionism and other forms of limits to migratory and economic policies.

Interviewed by the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, Barroso who is currently in Brazil for Monday's II Brazil-EU summit pointed out that "obviously in crisis situations the risks of protectionist measures and closing down on opportunities are always greater". "We must do everything possible to avoid this happening in Europe and in the rest of the world. It's a huge temptation that must be combated", he said adding that these type of measures and attitudes can only prove to be "negative and dramatic". However Barroso did defend the migratory measures imposed by the EU, which many Latinamerican countries protest and consider unfair. "They are not restrictive, they have been implemented to stimulate legal migration and they were not understood by many countries in Latinamerica", argued the EC president. Miagratory policies as well as current financial packages to face the global situation will be addressed at the summit that will be oponed by presidents Lula da Silva from Brazil and France's Nicholas Sarkozy, who holds the EU rotating chair.