Brussels, 02/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 3 October, the European Commission adopted a communication following up on the White Paper of February 2006, on a European communication policy (see EUROPE 9121 and 9120). It will propose to the European Parliament and Council to formalise the communication actions carried out at European level by drafting an interinstitutional agreement in 2008. This proposal comes across as a couple of steps backwards from the initial ambitions of creating a European Charter on Information and Communication. Even so, this interinstitutional agreement will give greater strength to the commitment of the European institutions and the member states to keep the European citizens informed, and to enter into dialogue with them. Developed by an annual work programme, it will identify the common priorities of the EU in terms of communication and will underline the rights and principles to be respected by the European institutions in all of their communication activities. The European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions will be invited to take part as observers. All of this will be done in such a way as preserve the capacity of the institutions and bodies in question to carry out actions autonomously.
The Commission will encourage the creation of communication partnerships with the interested member states (e.g. Belgium), and possibly also with certain regional governments. This type of cooperation already exists with Germany, Hungary and Slovenia (see EUROPE 9349). “European Public Spaces” are soon to see the light of day in Tallinn, Dublin and Madrid. These are meeting places open to the public and in which events related to Europe will be held. The Commission also hopes to identify aspects related to education in which action at European level may bring added value to the work of the member states, which have sole responsibility in matters of education. In line with the EP proposal, the creation of pilot information networks is being looked into, with a view to improving communication between the European and national political decision-makers, journalists and others who report back on public opinion. Although it hopes to improve the quality of the surveys carried out by its Eurobarometer service, the Commission is abandoning the idea of an independent observatory of public opinion (see EUROPE 9297).
Lastly, the Commission will adopt two strategic documents in the next few months: - the first, which is to be presented before the end of 2007, will focus on developments with the EUROPA portal and the use of the internet to support public or private initiatives on Europe; the second, which has been announced for early 2008, will present the new audiovisual strategy of the Commission, which will aim, amongst other things, to double the capacity of the “European by satellite” service. By means of a follow-up report on “Plan D for debate, dialogue and democracy”, to be presented in spring 2008 (see EUROPE 9310 and 9048), the European institution will launch a number of initiatives aiming to stimulate the democratic debate in the framework of the ratification of the revised European treaty and to encourage turnout at the European elections of 2009. (mb)