Europe must evolve to “a federation of nation states”, its top official has said, as he pleaded for deeper integration among the EU’s 27 members and an overhaul of the bloc’s treaties to end its economic turbulence.

The fiscal crisis had revealed the need for a leap forward in political integration to complement the closer co-operation member states had already begun to embrace to harmonise their economic and fiscal policies, said José Manuel Barroso in his annual “state of the union” address.

“I call for?.?.?.?a democratic federation of nation states that can tackle our common problems, through the sharing of sovereignty in a way that each country and each citizen are better equipped to control their own destiny,” the European Commission president said.