Brussels, 25/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Saturday 23 April, the College of 25 Commissioners held a seminar on the future communication strategy of the Commission. According to the spokesperson of Margot Wallström, Commissioner for institutional relations and the communication strategy, the College “supported the idea of an internal action plan and a White Paper on the communication policy including all stakeholders”. No date has been set so far for these documents to be published, but discussions on the action plan are “at a very advanced stage”, the spokesperson said, adding that it was now a “matter of weeks”.
As we announced (see EUROPE 8933), three principles guide the Commission's work: listening to the citizens better, explaining Community policies better and reaching the citizens better. The international action plan will tackle issues such as how to reach out to a regional and local audience, planning communication work between directorates general and the Commission, internal auditing, the professionalisation of staff in charge of information and communication. The “Communication and programming” group of Commissioners chaired by Margot Wallström is seeking to coordinate the Commission's work in this area and communication of legislative initiatives which arise from this work. It also defines the main large-scale actions to be taken to give Europe a face: the next will coincide with the first anniversary of the enlargement of the EU to ten new Member States.
Although it did not feature on the agenda of the seminar, the ratification process of the Constitution provided the backdrop for reflections on information about what is at stake with Europe. It is worth noting that the Commission feels that the process should be carried out in all Member States, whatever the outcome of the referendum in one or more Member States.