European Chief Backs Plan to End Roaming Fees

BRUSSELS — José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, called on Wednesday for an end to the high fees charged for making mobile phone calls across national borders, seizing on one of the few truly popular European initiatives at a time of rising skepticism about the European Union.

In his State of the Union address before the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr. Barroso threw his support behind a plan that would phase out roaming fees starting in 2014 as part of a wider overhaul of the telecommunications industry.