award was accepted with pride by the eu's 3 president, martin schulz, herman van rompuy, and jose manuel barroso. the standing ovation they received was a rare accolade for the eu in these tough economic times. >> in light of the financial crisis that is affecting so many innocent people, we can see that the political framework in which the union is rooted is more important than ever. we must stand together. we have a collective responsibility. without this european cooperation, there is -- there is a risk that the ground gained would be lost. >> he said the achievement of lasting german-french reconciliation was a powerful symbol of the european union's success. the leaders of the countries, angela merkel and francois hollande, stood up together in a gesture of unity, prompting more applause. later, barroso priase -- paised the eu's -- praised the eu's democratic principles. >> it is based on the free consent of states to share sovereignty. >> van rompuy said the states should remember those principles now during the debt crisis. he also expressed pride in being a european in his non-native lan

commission president jose manuel barroso there went along and animated speech the offended the clause in the energy regulation that forbids supplies such as russia's gas problem from also the distribution networks pearson was quick to react with a little look my friend of many years mr barroso explained his position so emotionally and so long because he felt guilty when you put it he knew he was wrong. and you just witnessed our discussion with. well that improves and labeled the legislation as uncivilized and said it is not right for its rules to be applied retroactively nevertheless the partnership between russia and the e.u. is a vital one as pointed out the cited need to say the need to transform what is today an independence by interdependence by necessity into an interdependence by choice of political choice and that's what requires political leadership on both sides meanwhile russia having over the past decade encountered several cases of unreliable ties with its neighbors like ukraine and belarus is now building immensely expensive projects like north korea notably recently la

so says the commission president jose manuel barroso at this press conference with that in their routine russian president has been holding talks with for the first time since his return to the kremlin decides admits there are still disagreements on energy issues and they remain committed to solving them. biggest energy supply exporting one third of you and gas well we'll be talking to our correspondent in brussels for more of an in-depth look at that you summit. the conflict in syria has been raised by russia's foreign minister an exclusive interview with r.t. so he loved believes that nato has recent decision to deploy patriot missiles on the turkish border were not designed just to protect against strikes from syrian territory he suggests there are indications the systems may also be useful against iran while talking about possible regime change in syria the foreign minister insisted that russia will play no part. in the business of regime change and some of the. regional players were suggesting to us why don't you tell president to leave we will arrange for some safe haven for him. m