Pisani: EC's Barroso Smacks Putin in the Face

I would recommend that anyone interested in the future of Europe take a look at the speech by EC President Jose Manuel Barroso (all right, stop laughing!). Really.

He push a union on three fronts: banking, fiscal, and political.

What's a political union? "Today, I call for a federation of nation states. Not a superstate."

Jose Manuel Durao Barroso

What is "a federation of nation states"? He did not provide much elaboration, but he did say it would have "a coherent foreign and defense policy."

If that's not a United States of Europe, I don't know what is.

Here's the link to the speech.

Take that, Putin! Buried deep in Barroso's speech is that slap in the face to Russia's Vladimir Putin: "In our countries two or three girls do not go to prison because they sing and criticize the ruler of their country." He's referring to the Russian punk-rock group Pussy Riot, three of whose members have been imprisoned for singing anti-Putin songs.

Finally: how tough is it in Spain? The Andalucia Masters at Valderrama — one of the main stops on the European golf tour — was cancelled due to a funding crisis. The local government couldn't afford it.

—By CNBC’s Bob Pisani

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