Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, will present a public talk titled, "European Union: An Indispensable Partner” at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School on Thursday, September 27, 2012, at noon, Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall. The discussion is cosponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School, the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD), the European Union Program, and the Program in Contemporary European Politics and Society.

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union (EU), responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the day-to-day running of the EU. The Commission operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission. There is one member per each EU member state, though members are bound to represent the interests of the EU as a whole rather than their home state.  The President of the Commission is appointed by the governments of the member states, and then approved by the European Parliament.  Barroso, former prime minister of Portugal, became president of the European Commission in 2004 and was reelected to the EU post in 2009. 

Barroso’s political career began in 1980 when he joined Portugal’s Social Democratic Party (PSD). He was named president of the party in 1999 and re-elected three times. During the same period, he served as vice president of the European People's Party. As state secretary for foreign affairs and cooperation, he played a key role as mediator in the signing of the peace accords for Angola in Bicesse in 1991. As minister for foreign affairs he was a driving force in the self-determination process in East Timor between 1992 and 1995. Under his leadership, the PSD won the general election in 2002 and he was appointed prime minister of Portugal in April 2002.

Barroso’s academic career includes working successively as a teaching assistant at the law faculty of the University of Lisbon, in the department of political science, University of Geneva, and as a visiting professor at the department of government and School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University (Washington, DC). In 1995, he became head of the International Relations Department of Lusíada University, Lisbon. In 1979, he founded the University Association for European Studies.  Barroso earned his law degree from the University of Lisbon, a diploma in European studies at the European University Institute, University of Geneva, and a master’s degree in political science from the department of political science also at the University of Geneva.

The event will be archived online for later viewing on the Woodrow Wilson School’s Web media site – http://wws.princeton.edu/webmedia.