Can EU hear me? Final
Report released on October 15, 2004
Experts agree that Europe should not be communicated as
a marketing brand, but a much more dramatic and intense
presence is demanded by the European communication experts.
Friends of Europe, the most communications-minded think
tank in Brussels, together with Gallup and leading EU affairs
internet portal EurActiv.com, were polling thousands of
decision-makers Europe-wide to find out how the European
Union can reach out more effectively to public opinion.
Gallup's Robert Manchin presented highlights from the study
at the Roundtable discussion "What
'Big Idea' for the Barroso Commission?", accessible
here.
The results of this pan-European brainstorming are now
available from our website. Gallup, together with Friends
of Europe and EurActiv, drafted an Open
Letter to the Communications Commissioner of the new
Commission, Margot Wallström. Read the Full
Report (see also: Interim
Report).
We would like to thank
all decision makers, leaders and experts across Europe,
who participated in this ambitious attempt to present the
collective wisdom of communication experts to the in-coming
European Commission.
If you feeel like you would be participating in this effort
and you are not yet invited, please click here
to register your email.
Our primary questions are:
Questioning the premises
1) Is the Commission's political role as driving force
for EU legislation consistent with its communications role?
2) Should the objectives of EU communications policies
remain a matter for EU officialdom to decide, or is a wider
consensus-building mechanism needed?
3) How can communication be put higher on the political
agendas (by eg creating specific ministerposts for information,
by letting the Commission president make state of the union
speeches in national parliaments etc)?
Evaluation & best practices
4) What process for evaluating EU-level information and
communications efforts might be envisaged? What information
audits exist in Member States and EU Institutions?
5) How effective are the current interinstitutional bodies
dealing with information and communications, and how satisfactory
is collaboration with Member States? Are there any best
practices?
6) If information deficit or communications inefficiency
is only part of the problem in the lower election turnouts,
how can/should the other symptoms be taken into consideration
in drafting communication policies? Has there been an analysis
of the different election turnouts per country in the various
European elections?
7) What are the lessons to be learnt from the massive information
campaigns around the euro and around enlargement, both in
the Member States and the Accession countries?
Formulating a communications strategy
8) Should there be an emergency plan to stimulate voter
interest in the mid-2004 EP elections, and what might it
consist of?
9) What longer-term strategy could be envisaged for bringing
radical reform to the EU institutions' efforts to engage
public opinion, and what would be the budgetary implications
of that?
10) Will a different approach be needed for information
and communications efforts aimed at the accession countries,
and if so what should it be?
11) Should future thinking on EU information and communication
be based on separating "technical" issues (industrial
policy etc) from "consumer" issues that are more
interesting to the man-in-the-street? Or do environmental
and food safety issues, for instance, demonstrate the impossibility
of that?
12) Should the EU institutions draw-up an information and
communications "Charter" that would set out the
aims of these efforts, the thinking behind them and the
political interests being served?
13) Should there be an overall PR strategy to sell Europe
as a "brand", to complement the often ad hoc vertical
approach of different Directorates-General in the Commission?
How can communication efforts be streamlined so that the
process becomes more important than ad hoc campaigns?
14) What is the impact of the new financial rules in the
commission on information and communication initiatives?
15) What can realistically be expected from EU governments
and institutions in terms of a pro-active communication
strategy and a geographical outreach to regions and even
cities?
Working with external actors
16) What [if anything] needs to be done to improve Commission
and Parliament procedures for sub-contracting information
and communications contracts?
17) Is the process by which EU officials are appointed
to information and communications jobs within the institutions
satisfactory, or should the system be changed with a view
to bringing in outside experts to occupy senior policymaking
positions?
18) If EU information and communication were to be gradually
removed from the tight control of the EU institutions, what
balance might there be in work sub-contracted to professional
agencies and to NGOs and other civil society players?
19) How can TV channels play a more prominent role in providing
background information to Europe's citizens? What is the
impact and approach of "specialist" TV channels
such as Euronews? Would a European C-Span have a viable
role in Europe?
20) Does the information flow to youth organisations and
through educational packages need to be improved? How can
regional and local bodies become better integrated in the
communication system?
21) How can collaboration with specialist media as well
as regional, national and international press be better
coordinated?
The National Perspective
22) What do you see to be the most imminent communications
challenges in your own country?
23) What will be the topics in your country that will be
on citizens' minds most in the next months and years?
24) Would you rate your government better or worse than
the "average European government" in communicating
EU policies? Why?
25) Do you think the official languages of the EU should
be limited to, say, five to save costs, with responsibility
for the national governments to translate and make available
relevant documents?
