President of European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Olli Rehn have welcomed Tuesday''s proposals by President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel as "the step forward in our common efforts to strengthen the governance of the euro area." In a joint statement issued today, they said that the Franco-German ideas represent "an important political contribution by the leaders of the two largest euro area economies." They stressed that "The challenges we are facing have made even clearer that a shared currency implies shared responsibility and demands closer coordination of economic policies."