A new plan to "Communicate Europe in partnership", unveiled by the Commission on 3 October, seeks to foster greater cooperation between Brussels-based EU institutions and national governments in communicating EU policies to citizens.
The objective is to win back popular support for the European project after the French and Dutch ‘No’ to the draft EU Constitution in 2005. It also seeks to reverse the decline in voter turnout at the next European elections to take place in 2009.
Central to the proposal is an inter-institutional agreement between the Commission (representing the EU’s general interest), the Parliament (representing citizens) and the member states (representing EU member states) to “communicate better collectively on agreed priority topics”. These could for example include climate change, the EU’s ‘Reform Treaty’ and the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs.
Other elements of the Commission’s proposals include:
- Joint communication plans, agreed on a voluntary basis with member states, in order to tailor EU communication to local circumstances.
- Developing a "network of European public spaces" at EU representations in the member states where exhibitions and concerts could be held. In Brussels, civil society "contact points" at the Commission’s offices would improve NGO access to information and documents from EU institutions.
- A renewed effort to teach European integration at school.
- An audiovisual and internet strategy, including "an internet-based information network" to "improve communication between European and national politicians, journalists and other opinion formers".
