Mr Barroso also urged China to play an important role in decisions taken to try to resolve the crisis, which he said was an opportunity for China to show “a sense of responsibility”.
He was speaking ahead of a two-day summit in Beijing of the 43-nation Asia-Europe Meeting, a dialogue that has yielded few results in the past but which has taken on considerable importance this year because of the continuing crisis.
“We need a co-ordinated global response to reform the global financial system. We are living in unprecedented times, and we need unprecedented levels of global co-ordination,” Mr Barroso said. “I very much hope that China gives an important contribution to the solution of this financial crisis.”