Former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar urges the EU to "stop smashing the club rules" and return to fiscal conservatism

By Matthew Barrett
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José María Aznar, who was the Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 until 2004, and a member of the centre-right People's Party, has written for the Times today (£). Aznar, who holds Europhile views, criticises the way European Union member states deviated from the strict fiscal rules they were expected to abide by, leading to the economic woes which now face several member states.

Firstly, Aznar welcomes European leaders waking up from "a denial of reality": "Europe’s political leaders are finally acknowledging the reality of the debt crisis suffered by some eurozone countries. This change of attitude is good news. Until last week’s summit, the European political consensus was a denial of reality, embellished with a large amount of rhetoric and appeals to a false sense of European solidarity."

Europe's centre right leaders back second term for Barroso

EUBusiness.com is reporting that Europe's key centre right leaders - Berlusconi, Merkel and Sarkozy - have endorsed a second term for EU Commission chief José Manuel Durão Barroso.  The Head of the Commission is chosen by heads of government.

As Prime Minister of Portugal from 2002 to 2004 Barroso gained a reputation as a fiscal hawk and was also a leading European supporter of the war in Iraq.  His time as Head of the Commission has been dominated by the Lisbon process.

In the video below from a press conference held yesterday, Barroso appears with Gordon Brown and claims that the European Union is leading the global response to the financial crisis: