Perspective: Big Business v. Barroso; Europe's business leaders blame governments for lackluster growth and stalled reform. They should blame themselves.(Jose Manuel Durao Barroso)

Byline: Ann Mettler (Mettler is executive director of the Lisbon Council, a pro-reform think tank in Brussels.)

The European Commission's new president, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, could use a little help. He's a champion of free-market reform. His push to boost EU growth and jobs has been derided by the Continent's socialist old guard as unabashedly "pro-business." Yet as Eurocrats gather in Brussels this week to renew their commitment to making the EU the world's most competitive economy, can he count on the support of Europe's business leaders?

Nope. Dominated by bureaucratic associations and industrial dinosaurs, they will almost certainly leave him twisting in the wind, just as they did his predecessor, Romano Prodi. European business may call for a more competitive Europe. Executives blame faltering growth on clueless governments. But when it comes to taking the necessary steps--tearing down protectionist barriers, liberalizing markets and cutting subsidies? Forget it.

Remember the Commission's effort in 2001 to loosen EU rules governing corporate takeovers? That was undercut by an unholy alliance between Volkswagen, an economic incumbent in which the state government has an unhealthily high stake, and German lawmakers. Or what about its more recent efforts to open the lucrative market in car parts? That was shot down by well-organized industrial players of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, representing 13 Old Europe car companies determined to preserve rules by which consumers are forced to buy spare parts (even such low-end products as windshields) from the original manufacturer--at a hefty margin, of course.

Now comes the Commission's ambitious plan to extend the EU single market to professional services. With the proposal under attack by unions, socialists, greens and antimarket NGOs, the silence of the business community has been deafening. Key employers associations see this vital piece of legislation--which economists agree will ...