Brussels, 30/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - In Madrid on Friday 27 October the European Commission organised a conference on understanding public opinion in Europe, the first in a series of five events on aspects of the European Commission's White Paper on the EU's information and communications strategy. Representatives of national polling bodies and other companies, European and national officials, researchers and reporters discussed the European Commission's idea to establish an independent European public opinion monitoring centre (see EUROPE 9121 and 9122). It became clear during the debate that better cooperation is required, particularly with a view to improving the methodology used in polling public opinion and publication of the results. No consensus emerged, however, about the need for a special EU structure to improve matters. The question of suitable use of opinion polls in the context of democracy was also discussed in Madrid, along with the emergence of European public opinion, the role of the media in explaining the European project and the European project itself.
Opening the debate, EU Commissioner Margot Wallström explained that one idea mooted in the Commission's White Paper was to create an independent European public opinion monitoring centre in the form perhaps of an actual agency with its own full-time staff, or a series of national experts meeting on a regular basis. The Commissioner for the EU's Information Strategy said that her department needed experts to improve the drafting of opinion polls, provide rapid, comprehensive analysis of the results, ensure maximum media coverage of the results and help raise awareness among public opinion and feed the democratic debate. She said she had asked experts about the need to revise the 'methods' used in opinion polls to integrate new communications technology like the internet and mobile phones. She also asked them about the utility of improving Eurobarometer polls and connecting them with other sources of information. For three decades, Eurobarometer has published two, mainly quantitative, opinion polls a year covering the whole of the EU, on questions of European interest.
What would be the value added of an independent European public opinion monitoring centre at EU level? Antonis Papacostas, responsible for Eurobarometer at the European Commission, outlined a potential structure. The European Commission needs to get better information about what ordinary people think about Europe and also needs to communicate its activity better. Papacostas explained that a European monitoring centre could carry out more detailed polls than Eurobarometer and act as a 'memory bank' with long-term studies of shifts in public opinion. It could also act to 'anticipate' trends in European public opinion. He added that it was not a question of reinventing the wheel or creating a super-duper Eurobarometer, but rather of taking advantage of existing experience and coordinating activity in a more effective way without introducing too much over-standardisation. The aim is also to improve communication to citizens. Papacostas warned that it was important to remember that the main obstacle was national governments. In their response to the Commission's White Paper, Member States had not welcomed the idea of establishing a European monitoring centre. National information and statistical departments want to manage their own information and do not want to have to react to EU data, reaching beyond the home country, explained Commission sources.
The experts agree that collaboration at EU level has to be improved and the methodology used in opinion polls has to be refined. They also agree on the need to ensure better publication of the results. Some experts seem to feel that a European monitoring centre would be a good idea, but many others question it. Would it really be a body providing better political piloting or would it simply continue to feed into academic research, asked Pierre Giacometti, Director General of French polling company IPSOS. Lena Kolarska-Bobinska, Director of the Polish Public Affairs Institute, was not wholly opposed to the idea of an EU monitoring centre as long as it worked in close collaboration with national bodies. She suggested starting to set up systematic dialogue with the social partners (employers and trade unions), civil society, thinktanks and reporters in order to improve the publication of the results of every Eurobarometer poll. Roger Jupp, head of Lansdowne Market Research, said careful attention should be paid to the type of data to be collective and this begged the question of what one felt European public opinion was. Was there any political will to make use of the collected data or was it a purely academic approach, he wondered. Peter MacDonagh, erstwhile advisor to Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern, sarcastically commented that whenever a problem arose, people suggested setting up a new EU institution. He said a network of public opinion experts would expand the skill base and assist the Commission.
Dominique Reynié, Director of the 'Observatoire interrégional du politique' at the Paris-based 'Institut d'études politiques', said five areas needed to be taken into account when considering whether or not to establish an independent European public opinion monitoring centre, namely distinguishing between European issues (like the constitutional treaty, the euro and enlargement) and more general issues (like sexual equality and the market economy); working with similar bodies at international level on cross-border research; coming up with original data; publishing information to encourage interested parties to comment; and getting panels of experts and reporters involved.
Alejo Vidal-Quadras (EPP-ED, Spain), Vice-President at the EP for Information and Communications Policy, expressed various reservations about the idea of setting up a European monitoring centre. The EP does not welcome the idea, he explained, calling for greater cooperation among national polling bodies and adding that the objective should be better information rather than more information.
Attempting to sum up the debate, Claus Sørensen, Director General for Communication at the European Commission, said he detected consensus emerging at the conference about a network of experts aiding the Commission on methodological issues, but further thought should go into the mission and format of any independent monitoring centre. In conclusion, Margot Wallström said the proposal for a European monitoring centre or a network of experts had been much discussed and highly controversial. She said she would be giving this very careful thought and had not yet given up on either idea. She said the Commission would make a political decision in the spring of next year, when it publishes the results of a pan-European consultation exercise carried out in the context of the White Paper and timed to coincide with the celebrations in March 2007 of the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome.
Dialogue with public opinion despite problems with talk of Europe
Joaquín Almunia, EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner, mentioned the lack of symmetry between European citizens' genuine call for Europe and the problems with providing communication about Europe, arising from slow, complex decision-making procedures at the EU level and the tendency for national politicians to take refuse behind the alibi of Europe to get themselves off the hook over unpopular decisions taken in Brussels.
Does European public opinion really exist or would it be more accurate to speak of 'public opinion in Europe'?, asked Alberto Navarro, Spanish European minister. He said the Spanish were prepared to back Europe because it was European solidarity that had allowed Spain's economy to catch up with the rest of the EU. He welcomed what he described as exceptional work by the Spanish media, which had always discussed Europe as a historical opportunity to be seized with both hands.
Alejo Vidal-Quadras said it was necessary for European citizens to be made aware that the European project was not reserved for the elite but ordinary people could and should take part in it. He pointed out the EP's initiative of organising citizen forums in five Member States on questions like borders and Europe's social dimension. He said that reality was not a very optimistic picture, with EU citizens lacking in knowledge about EU issues and the resulting vacuum often being filled by demagogues. (mb)