As the new European Commission takes office on Monday, there will be no better way for José Manuel Barroso, its president, to assert his authority than by pressing ahead with the Lisbon Strategy, the European Union's economic reform commitments.

Mr Barroso needs to convince the European Union member states to adopt these reforms to boost long-term economic growth. Without such measures, Europe's generous social welfare policies will be unsustainable. More important, with fewer economic resources at its command, Europe's diminished ability to engage internationally will confirm what many in the new Washington administration suspect: that the US should no longer attempt to accomplish its principal foreign policy goals through the transatlantic relationship.