Blogs : la course européenne est ouverte en vue des élections de juin[en] 

The 'TH!NK ABOUT IT' competition , which officially begins on 1 February and is funded by the European Commission, will see bloggers from every corner of the Union "cover, report, critique and debate" campaign issues and candidates for the EU elections, as well as "share their thoughts on the EU" in general. 

The competition's organisers, the European Journalism Centre (EJC), hope the project will create "a dynamic community of bloggers, journalists and journalism students" expressing their views on Europe. "This scale of project has never been attempted before and we're excited to see where it takes us," the EJC said in a statement. 

New Internet tools that make use of Web 2.0 technology, including blogs, wikis and social networking sites, are helping to turn millions of web users into content creators (see EurActiv LinksDossier on 'Web 2.0'). At EU level, blogs are proving particularly adept at bringing debate closer to citizens, and even some European commissioners maintain their own (see EurActiv LinksDossier on 'Blogs'). 

But although many Brussels-based communications and public affairs professionals are aware of the web's importance, "most are still holding firm to their traditional working styles," like distributing press releases and hosting press conferences, according to Helen Dunnett, eCommunications manager at the European Crop Protection Association, who spoke to EurActiv in an interview recently (EurActiv 15/01/09). 

"Communications in Brussels still tends to be one-directional, with a stoic resistance to using online tools to enrich press conferences, releases and events," Dunnett argues. 

For their part, the TH!NK ABOUT IT team declared themselves "completely overwhelmed with support and interest," saying the number of participants had exceeded expectations. "It is wonderful to see so much enthusiasm and energy coming from each member state," the EJC said in a statement on the project's website. 

Better communicating EU policies to European citizens has become more important for the Commission after the Irish rejected the Lisbon Treaty by popular referendum last summer (EurActiv 13/06/08). The Irish 'no' came hot on the heels of the rejection of the bloc's proposed constitutional treaty by French and Dutch voters in 2005. 

Yesterday's launch event was attended by over eighty bloggers, with all 27 EU countries represented, while a Facebook group linked to the project already has almost 200 members.