Better informed, better citizens” “

“Over these last twenty years the European Union has undergone a far-reaching transformation. It has been assigned a wide range of tasks that influence the life of citizens. Nonetheless, Europe’s communication towards its citizens has not always followed the same pace. It cannot be ignored that a gulf now exists between the Union and its citizens”. The recognition of this provides the starting point for the White Paper on EU communication policy, adopted by the Barroso Commission on Wednesday 1st February. COMMUNICATION IS DEMOCRACY. “Communication is first and foremost a question of democracy: citizens have the right to know what the Union does and why. And they have the right to participate fully in the European project”, said MARGOT WALLSTRÖM, Vice-President of the Executive, who holds the portfolio for institutional relations and communication. She had the task of presenting the White Paper. The Swedish Commissioner admitted that the Community “has developed as a political project, but has not found a place in the hearts and minds of citizens. The White Paper is the Commission’s response to this challenge”. The text (14 pages in all) ought to serve as the “basis for a two-way discussion – explained Wallström -, and for a consultation to enable “institutions and citizens to listen to each other”. The consultation will last for six months and “anyone may intervene also through the website created by the Commission. At the end of this period, the Executive will propose initiatives to improve the forms of communication between the EU and the population”, and help citizens “participate more closely in the integration project”. EFFECTIVE POLICIES, EFFECTIVE INFORMATION. The White Paper says: “Communication is indissoluble in terms of its content. Citizens expect the Eu to achieve prosperity, solidarity and security in response to globalization. So communication policy requires that the Union should put in place an effective political programme”. The document insists on the necessary relation between the concrete results of Eu action, the instruments and forms to connect institutions and citizens, and a new relation of trust between citizens and the Eu as a whole. “We have ascertained various problems – said the Vice-President of the Executive -: there’s a lack of shared principles with which to implement information policies at the European level; and we are faced by a situation in which information is transmitted from the institutions to citizens, but not vice versa”, without any feedback in terms of indications, suggestions or complaints. But, above all, Wallström explains that “our strategy has hitherto failed to attach the necessary importance to the transformations taking place in the mass media and in public opinion”. “CHORAL” MOBILIZATION. The main objective of the document, explain the authors of the White Paper, “is to mobilize all the parties involved: the institutions, the member states, the regional and local authorities, the political parties and civil society. The task of awareness-raising and encouraging greater commitment will be of paramount importance”. The White Paper consists of two parts: the first part sets out the Executive’s view of the nature and objectives of an Eu policy on communication; the second part is devoted to pointing out the main sectors of consultation and future action. In this case five objectives are spelt out: defining common principles for institutional communication: involving citizens; collaborating with the media and using the new technologies; understanding public opinion; and “acting together”, i.e. with the mobilization of Eu, member states, local levels of government and civil society. A WEBSITE FOR CITIZENS. The White Paper is the result of a long period of gestation and preparation, which considered the various factors that have characterised the phase of impasse in which the EU found itself after the failure of the referenda in France and Holland, the stop to the process of ratification of the Constitution decided by the European Council in June, the doubts that have emerged on future enlargement and the troubled process for the approval of the Financial Perspectives. The White Paper is also a follow up to “the publication of the action plan adopted in June 2005, which outlines the actions that the Commission ought to have taken to implement a reform of its communication activities”. To this should be added the contributions made in recent months by the Commission itself through the adoption of so-called Plan D (democracy, dialogue and debate), by the European Parliament, by the Economic and Social Committee, and by the Committee of the Regions. The address of the multilingual website, created ad hoc by the Commission, is as follows: http://europa.eu.int/comm/communication_white_paper/index_en.htm. ———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1449 N.ro relativo : 09 Data pubblicazione : 08/02/2006