After the state of the union speech by the head of the European Commission, it was plain the content had gone down more or less well in the European Parliament’s different political quarters.

The president of the socialist group, Martin Schulz, felt policy of who gets what has become unhinged.

Schulz said: “There is enough money but more and more it’s ending up with only a few people, and a lot of people have less and less of it. That is what pushes people to go out and demonstrate, this lopsidedness, this injustice.”

Unions against public spending cuts are planning a Europe-wide day of action on September 29.

Liberal group president Guy Verhofstadt credited Barroso as having put forward an ambitious programme for the year, although in his opinion Barroso did not strike a note of hope for Europeans.

euronews correspondent Christophe Midol-Monnet pointed out that France was also in the spotlight.

Midol-Monnet said: “This return to work for European policy-makers in Strasbourg unfolded against a backdrop of strikes and demonstrations against France’s proposed pension reform. But in the European Parliament the French government found itself in the hotseat over its controversial people management concerning the Roma.”

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