"We started from nothing. At the beginning, it was like shouting in the desert," Wallström said, looking back to her five years in office as commissioner for institutional relations and communication strategy. "But we started to change the political culture, in which we have been a scapegoat, to one where we will be a partner," she added, before warning that the results would not be visible for several years.
In order to see results, she said, the portfolio needs to be given its own legislative work and financial means. With the new provisions in the Lisbon Treaty, communication can be naturally associated with a citizens' portfolio, the Swedish commissioner said, unveiling to EurActiv her exit strategy to take European communication to the next level.
According to Wallström, there is legislation that covers voting rights and citizens' programmes in other Commission departments. These should be brought together under the same umbrella of a directorate-general for communication and citizenship.
"That would give the next commissioner the platform and the possibilities to engage with civil society, underpinned by particular legislative files," she underlined.
A mandate hampered by lack of funds
EU communications expenditure is often embedded in policy programmes, where the legal rules provide for communication activities directed at stakeholders or the general public.
"This makes systematic reporting by directorate-general very difficult," Commission Secretary-General Catherine Day explained in a letter to the European Parliament's committee on budgetary control, seen by EurActiv.
A recap of communication spending, on the basis of the main activities undertaken in 2007, shows that the total budget is 300 million euros. But that includes 88 million for administrative expenses related to OPOCE, the EU publications office, 22 million for publishing tenders, and 18 million for the Official Journal. Only 15 million is attributed by Day to communication embedded in other programmes.
First steps into uncharted waters
Presenting her goals for the mandate to the Parliament during the hearing in September 2004, Wallström explained that the first priority had to be to create a culture of cooperation among EU institutions, "stop squabbling," and stop blaming other institutions and decision-makers when things go wrong.
During the first years of her mandate, Wallström spent a lot of time trying to find a legal basis in the treaty for obtaining an inter-institutional agreement on communication policy. It was only at the end of 2007 that she came up with a proposal on 'Communicating Europe in Partnership' and managed to secure a political agreement, signed in October 2008.
"It was not time lost. It was preparing the ground," she said. "I knew from the very beginning that a mandate was not enough to change something which is in the very walls of an institution, but we have moved in the right direction and have taken some important steps," she added.
The new political agreement among the three institutions is a huge leap forward, said the commissioner. "It is a rather boring document that does not make headlines, but it marks the introduction of a very important principle," she said. "Now with the new treaty we could argue that it could be turned into a inter-institutional agreement," she added, explaining that Article 252 of the Lisbon Treaty, if it enters into force, would allow the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission to consult each other and by common agreement make arrangements for their cooperation.
"To that end, they may, in compliance with the Treaties, conclude interinstitutional agreements which may be of a binding nature," states the article.
In his 'Political guidelines for the next Commission' presented last week, the EU executive's president, José Manuel Barroso, underlined that the next Commission "will redouble its efforts to have a real Commission presence communicating on the ground in the member states and in the regions, in partnership with the European Parliament, listening to citizens and dealing first hand with their questions and concerns".
Partnership with national parliaments
In an attempt to create greater ownership of the European project and prepare for the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, which gives a more prominent role to national parliaments, the Commission launched its so-called Barroso initiative in 2006.
Since then, national parliaments have started to receive new Commission proposals and consultation papers and have regularly issued opinions along with the EU assembly.
"That built a very different understanding of the Commission in the parliaments," Wallström said, noting however that this new perception needs to "trickle down the political parties and change the democratic culture in every member state".
Wallström admitted that much of the Commission's work is boring for citizens, but it is definitely valuable for national parliaments as the legislative texts impact on their work.
"We have never before had so many commissioners visiting member states' parliaments and engaging in debate," she said, but argued that "we are still far from adopting a common narrative".
Bridging the democratic gap: Citizens' consultations are valuable tools
Noting that the negative results of referenda in France and the Netherlands in 2005 had taken the EU by surprise, Wallström said the EU had reacted vigorously by trying different avenues to reinforce transnational democratic life and ultimately create a European public space.
Some 40,000 people took part in six transnational 'Plan D' projects and hundreds of thousands were estimated to have participated virtually via the Internet.
Wallström scrapped deliberative polling - one of the methodologies used to engage citizens in EU debates - saying it was too expensive. But she praised citizens' consultations as a means of further involving citizens in public debate at national level. "We could add citizens' consultations into our way of working," she said, acknowledging it might not be a perfect methodology, but could improve over time.
Putting the house in order
The action plan reforming the way the Commission deals with communication was a major achievement, pointed out Wallström, referring to the strategic reorganisation of communications work within the EU executive and strengthening national representations.
The 'Action Plan to improve communicating in Europe,' adopted in 2005, launched a whole series of measures to modernise and professionalise the approach to information and communication activities across departments.
Changing the tools, introducing new methods, reforming the organisation of the EU executive's departments (DGs) and decentralising communication to Commission representations in the member states provided the foundations for more active citizenship and policymaking, according to the commissioner.
With three strategic principles - 'Listen better, explain better, go local' - the plan prompted the appointment of sectoral communication to the representations, allowing for better dissemination of information on the different policy areas at national level. 43 officials were sent to 24 member states (all EU countries except the Benelux nations). The commissioner hopes to have 50 by 2010.
Margot Wallström was speaking to Daniela Vincenti Mitchener and Christophe Leclercq.
