KRGV.com

STRASBOURG, France (AP) A top European Union official says the EU's financial crisis is "fueling populism and extremism" in Europe.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, says EU countries need to realize they are in the crisis together, and must work together to get out of it. The Commission is the EU's executive branch.

"Europe needs a new direction," Barroso said Wednesday in his annual State of the Union address. "Old ideas" will not work anymore and greater political union is needed in order to save the euro currency, he said.