Berlin/Brussels, 22/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - The “Communicating Europe Together” conference, jointly organised by the Commission and the German Presidency on 18-19 January, devoted to partnerships between the European institutions and the national and regional levels in the field of communication, provided the opportunity for those taking part to learn about a number of projects carried out on the ground by Germany, Ireland, Hungary and Spain (see EUROPE 9348).
“We want to use these six months to have greater dialogue with citizens,” said Günther Gloser, the German European affairs minister. He gave a glimpse of the initiatives the German Presidency would launch in the first half of 2007. The festivities surrounding the EU's 50th anniversary would inevitably be the starting point of the Presidency's activities in this area, he said. 25 March, the date of the Berlin Declaration, would mark the start of a national “information round”. A giant big top devoted to all things European would be raised for a few days in each of around 50 German towns. In it, there would be exhibitions, debates, regional conferences involving the general public and schools. Other initiatives would include holding a European youth congress, making a European film, training young people who would then provide information about Europe in schools and out-of-school organisations. Based on an idea from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meetings with members of the Federal government, MEPs and national MPs and 450 European officials of German nationality took place in German schools on Monday 22 January. Enterprise and Industry Commissioner Günter Verheugen visited pupils in the town of Bremen. The “Aktion Europa “programme is gathering the opinions of the German population on Europe (see EUROPE 9339).
When the Irish voted against the Treaty of Nice in June 2001 (see EUROPE 7981), “the political class was shocked,” remembered Irish European affairs minister, Noel Treacy. At that time, those opposed to the ratification of the Treaty of Nice launched a slogan which said much about the nature of political debate in the country: “If you don't know, say NO!” Reacting to this failure, the Irish government set up the “National Forum on Europe”, Mr Treacy said, as a platform for allowing Irish society to better get to know Europe, through “debates on key issues”. “Meetings took place all over Ireland to listen to the concerns of the people,” he explained, adding, “We didn't shirk the task. The government took the criticism, responded, debated”. The result was that, in a second referendum, almost 63% of Irish people agreed to the ratification of the Treaty of Nice in October 2002 (see EUROPE 8323). Ireland has yet to say what its position is on the Constitutional Treaty. (see http: //http://www.forumeurope.ie/ )
After Germany, Hungary is the second Member State to finalise a partnership agreement on communication with the Commission, said Gábor Iván, the Hungarian secretary of state for European affairs. He announced “fora to be held in all regions” of Hungary, with input from academia, the media, civil society and political parties, on the “political priorities which have a direct impact on people's lives”, such as “social wellbeing and security”. Mr Iván said that, “from January to the end of April”, the Hungarian government would be drafting “medium-term guidelines for setting up a new (national) communication policy” on Europe.
Isabel Piquer, the spokeswoman for the Spanish secretary of state for European affairs, presented the work carried out by Spain ahead of the national referendum of February 2005 on the Constitutional Treaty, in which the “Yes” vote won a resounding 76% of the vote (see EUROPE 8893). Ms Piquer said that Spain had banked on a campaign to inform the people of the country: the Commission managed to print 5 million copies of the abridged version of the Constitutional Treaty “in record time” and these were distributed “in national newspapers”, at the desks of the main private transport companies - airline, bus, railway companies - and even in football stadia. The Spanish government also backed the EP's “EuroEscola” initiative which was aimed at young people in order to “create debate within families” she went on. Drawing the lessons from this campaign, Ms Piquer acknowledged that even more could have been done for “young people and rural populations”. She also spoke about the “Let's talk about Europe” internet portal, the aims of which are to encourage dialogue among citizens on major European issues (for example, the social model, security, migratory fluxes, Europe's place in the world); decentralising debate; and communication on Spain's place in EUROPE 20 years after its accession to the EU. (See http: //hablamosdeeuropa.es/) (mb)