Barroso says confident Sarkozy will help EU

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Sunday he was confident French presidential election winner Nicolas Sarkozy would help find an early solution to the EU's stalled institutional reform.

In a statement congratulating the conservative favourite, Barroso said the result was a victory for European Union integration, which both Sarkozy and his Socialist rival, Segolene Royal, had openly supported.

"I know Nicolas Sarkozy well, and I know his determination to ensure France takes its full place on the European scene," the centre-right head of the EU's executive arm said.

"I have every confidence that Nicolas Sarkozy, whose convictions I know and whose strong beliefs are known to all, will play a driving role in resolving the institutional question and in consolidating a political Europe," Barroso said.

The EU has been in the political doldrums since French and Dutch voters rejected a draft European constitution in 2005 referendums.

The charter was meant to give the bloc stronger leadership and a more democratic, streamlined voting system to cope with its eastward enlargement.

Sarkozy has said he will back a quick, slimmed-down treaty to salvage the key reforms in the constitution, to be ratified by parliament instead of by referendum.

In his acceptance speech, the president-elect declared himself a life-long European and said: "Tonight France is back in Europe."

But he also said the EU would have to take account of those who needed protection, foreshadowing possible friction with Brussels over economic nationalism.