Brussels, 23/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - The “Communicating Europe Together” conference, jointly organised by the Commission and German Presidency, organised a specific workshop on the communication actions being carried out by the regions (EUROPE 9348 and 9349). In Scotland, the regional Scottish Enterprise authority has been implementing the project, “Building a bridge between Europe and its citizens”, since October 2005. The project has two aims: greater involvement of citizens in important decision-making, and exploring ways for the European institutions and regional bodies to work together in an effort to improve communication with citizens, particularly young people.
Several events took place in 2006 in which Scottish citizens were asked about what sort of dialogue they wanted with the EU, and what methods and means were needed to accomplish it. In May, a forum of young people took place at the regional parliament with Scottish and European pupils, members of the regional government, Scottish parliamentarians and officials from the European institutions. Representatives from Scottish interest groups, often concerned by Community decisions but not very familiar with how these decisions are taken, were able to have a dialogue with representatives from the European institutions. These actions illustrated the need for intermediate organisations on the ground, which were able to both manage the flow of information from Brussels, and focus on the political areas of real interest for their target audiences. Insertion into European thematic networks also puts cross-border cooperation involving the different actors into practice, and facilitates interaction between local and European levels. A follow-up of the Scottish project that looked at how the Scottish media tackles European affairs was also set up. This highlighted a deficit in European coverage by the regional media.
Speaking on behalf of Scottish Enterprise, Daniel Kleinberg gave a presentation of the experiences obtained by the North Sea Advisory Council, one of the seven advisory councils involving professionals from the fisheries sector since 2004 in the conceptualisation of European decisions impacting on the management of fisheries resources (EUROPE 8711). This body brings together representatives from the sector, as well as environmental and consumer organisations. Mr Kleinberg also explained that this body constituted a means for professions to meet up regularly and advise political decision makers. Kleinberg explained that these interest groups were now part of the decision-making process and although they might not like the decisions that were taken, they at least understood them. The representative of the regional authority put the importance of this experience into perspective and explained that they were not claiming that it should be an example for others to follow. He thought that similar initiatives could be carried out aimed at other sectors of the population, such as people with learning disabilities. (mb)