European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has told MEPs that the outlook for the EU economy is better than a year ago.
José Manuel Barroso was giving the first State of the Union speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Watch a clip of the speech
He defended the EU's response to the global economic crisis, saying the EU had withstood the test and had provided many of the answers needed.
The Commission President said that recovery is gathering pace, although unevenly. He noted that the unemployment rate, while still too high, had stopped increasing.
He added that Europe was at a moment of truth and that there needed to be more than 27 different solutions. Mr Barroso said nations would have to swim together or sink individually.
A proposal to check MEPs attendance at the first major debate on the State of the European Union has been met with anger by many MEPs.
The proposal by the Presidents of the Political Groups in the European Parliament wanted to check attendance three times during the debate.
Those missing would then face a financial penalty.
President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek said there was agreement that attendance during key debates needed to be beefed up, but that more time was needed to mull the possibilities.
