The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso is to receive an honorary doctorate from University College Cork  this coming Wednesday, March 5th.

Barroso has previously served as prime minister of Portugal and is in his 9th year as president of the European Commision.

This is Barroso’s 2nd visit to UCC, the last being in 2008 in the run up the Lisbon Treaty where he claimed the treaty was “good for Ireland”.

Barroso has requested a speaking time of 25 minutes signifying that his speech will be more than just a thank you to the college.