‘New neighbourhood policy’ around the Berlaymont

EurActiv.com inaugurated its new Network Office in Brussels on 7 December in the presence of Commissioner Siim Kallas and 130 guests from policy circles. This puts EurActiv and its partners right at the heart of the EU community.

EurActiv is moving into the immediate vicinity of the European Commission, right next to the renewed Berlaymont building. The new location in the original International Press Centre, 1 Boulevard Charlemagne, symbolises the strong media position EurActiv.com has built up only five years after its launch. EurActiv’s presence closer to the EU institutions will strengthen its leading position as a platform for EU policy debates.

The inauguration of the yellow-blue office was celebrated by 130 guests from institutions, industry federations, NGOs and think tanks in Brussels. One of the main guests from the institutions was Commissioner Siim Kallas. Estonia – his country of origin – is one of Europe’s leading lights in e-government, and Mr Kallas is particularly interested in the increased use of information technology.

“At a time when the Commission has clearly recognised the need to communicate better with its citizens, new online media such as EurActiv can play a major role. I welcome you as new neighbours and look forward to your close scrutiny of our policies,” said Commissioner Kallas.

EurActiv’s editor-in-chief Willy De Backer underlined the importance of this move closer to the ‘heart of Europe’: “EurActiv has changed the face of EU reporting by shedding light on civil society’s influence on upcoming policy proposals. Now on their doorsteps, EurActiv’s journalists will have even better access to the EU institutions. It should allow us to increase further the depth and width of our coverage, in the interests of transparency and efficiency.”

Julian Oliver, Secretary General of ‘Fondation EurActiv’, said: “What we have inaugurated is in fact the ‘EurActiv Network Office’, serving not only EurActiv.com but also some online media and NGOs or think tanks not directly present in Brussels.”

Christophe Leclercq, publisher of EurActiv, said: “We are not just ‘Commission watchers’, but bring the policy debates to the national level. We do this in 11 languages: English, French and German via EurActiv.com, and 8 more languages via our partners in Central Europe. The new EurActiv Network Office is the hub of this ‘Crosslingual network of EU policy portals.”

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Note to the editor:

EurActiv.com is the independent portal on EU Affairs. With more than 1,2 million page views per month and over 67,000* unique visitors (CIM certified figures – March 04), the site is an important working instrument for the majority of EU Actors (institutions, industry federations, NGO’s, think tanks, the press and others) involved in defining or influencing EU policies.

The following are general sponsors of EurActiv’s portal: the European Commission’s eContent and IST programmes, CEPS, DuPont, Toyota, Microsoft, Honeywell, VISA, ABIG (Turkey in Europe), Sagem and Manpower. Section sponsors of EurActiv include: BP, Edelman, EDF, Eucomed, ExxonMobil, Gallup Europe, Hydro, Lockheed Martin, Nike, Pfizer, Kellen Europe, US Mission to the EU.

EurActiv also has 60 “content partners” (NGOs & think tanks) as well as ca. 500 “contributors”, providing their policy positions for free publication, up to the editorial team. Input welcome: editor@euractiv.com

Via the CrossLingual network of policy portals, EurActiv’s content in three languages is available for syndication to “EU Actors”’ websites and intranets. Eight Central and Eastern European partners also translate and localise EurActiv news for their national audiences.

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