The European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Monday that the European should not hide behind barriers when facing the ever-increasing free trade challenges.

"As the world's biggest exporter, Europe has the most to lose if the world retreats into total market protection," the chief of the European Union (EU) executive arm told a seminar hosted by the European Parliament.

Barroso said that international competition is intensifying as developing countries become key players. "Their domestic markets witness rapid growth, they demand market access, and they become more influential partners in international negotiations".

According to a recent study, of the current G7 (the seven industrialized countries), only the United States and Japan may still be among the largest economies in 2050.

Other places will be taken up by large developing countries, like India, China, and Brazil.

"After traveling to some of these countries recently, this does not strike me as an exaggeration," said Barroso, who visited Beijing and New Delhi earlier this month.

"We must remain conscious of the fact that while there are indisputable benefits overall to trade opening, it also brings along with it painful transformations and disruption which must be managed," said the Commission chief.

He noted that job losses in some sectors, along with new job opportunities in other sectors, are an inevitable accompaniment of this process.

"Europe has to become more successful in anticipating and managing the transitional effects of trade liberalization. It is a question of fairness," said Barroso.

"What we must not do is hide behind barriers and hope the world will pass us by. The answer to China's rise in particular cannot be - must not be - a retreat into protectionism," he added.

Source: Xinhua