Communicating Europe in Partnership
October 3, 2007
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Today the Commission adopted our paper ‘Communicating Europe in Partnership’. Below is a Citizens’ Summary.
I also recorded a clip for Eutube which you might like to check out.
Also - I welcome my colleague Stavros Dimas, Commissioner for Environment, to the blogosphere!
What is the paper about?
The Commission is proposing actions aimed at informing people more about the EU and enabling them to voice their opinions. The EU takes many decisions whch affect people’s daily lives but many people say they do not hear enough about how and why these decisions are taken. They also say that they feel they have no say in influencing EU policies.
People have the right to know what EU leaders – including their own governments - are proposing and to have the possibility to influence them. They have the right to debate European issues together – not only at local, regional and national levels but also Europe-wide. Informed discussions and debate are vital to a healthy European democracy.
What is the problem today?
The European Union is big and complex. It is made up of 27 countries and several Institutions such as the Commission, the Parliament and the Council. It deals with increasingly complex issues which directly affect people’s lives. The rules under which it works are complicated. This makes it even more necessary to have good communication with citizens. The problem is that Governments and the EU Institutions have tended to work separately, each having different priorities and different ways of communicating. The result has sometimes been that there has been little or no real communication with citizens and no real debate about European issues at national or local level.
The Commission believes it is high time to change this situation and has already taken steps of its own to improve how it communicates with people. However, the Commission cannot do so alone: it needs the support of the other Institutions and the Member States. Communicating on EU mattersis a shared responsibility and this paper makes proposals for doing the job together. If it succeeds, it will do a great deal to end the so-called “blame game” between EU institutions and Member State governments on EU decisions, whereby ‘Brussels’ or ‘the EU’ is often blamed for decisions which have been taken by everyone, as if ‘the EU’ is something completely separate.
What are the proposed actions?
- The central proposal is for an inter-institutional agreement under which the Commission, Parliament and Council would have a shared communication agenda, based on agreed priorities. This is not about having the same message. It is about getting a commitment to communicate, in a co-ordinated way, on the same topics with citizens across the EU.
- The Commission offers to work with individual governments via “management partnerships” on a voluntary basis – again involving an agreed communication agenda. Cooperation will help to adapt communication on the EU to national circumstances and link it to national political agendas. Management partnerships exist today in Germany, Slovenia and Hungary. Negotiations are underway with other Member States.
- With national parliaments and the European Parliament, the Commission proposes setting up “Pilot Information Networks” to improve communication between European and national politicians, and with other opinion formers. There will be a network of internet discussion forums, supplemented by meetings and debates across the EU.
- With Parliament, the Commission proposes creating “European Public Spaces” – meeting-places where citizens can get information, join in discussions and enjoy exhibitions, films, conferences, forums and lectures.
- Civil society is encouraged to create its own forums for debate. The Commission will help NGOs to establish a network of websites where European issues can be discussed. A named contact point will be set up in each Commission department to allow a more equal access to the Commission by NGOs.
- Young people at school should learn the basic facts about the EU. Curricula are a matter for national governments, not the EU, but the Commission offers to help governments identify areas in which this aspect of education could be improved, and to play a role in sharing best practice between teachers.
What are the next steps?
In addition to this paper, the Commission will adopt a new Internet Strategy by the end of this year. The aim is for the Commission to use the internet more as a means of getting information to people and allowing people to discuss and debate European issues. It will aim to help create a network of websites where Europeans can ‘meet’ each other or learn about and discuss issues at a European level.
A new audiovisual strategy will come out in early 2008. The strategy will give support to networks of broadcasters across Europe in order to produce and broadcast programmes on European issues. The Commission also aims to give better support to regional media and audiovisual media accredited to the EU institutions.
In the Spring of 2008 the Commission will present its follow-up to the current so-called plan D (for Debate, Dialogue and Democracy) projects which were set up after the No votes on the draft Constitutional Treaty in France and The Netherlands. The overall aims will include encouraging people to vote in the 2009 European Parliament elections.
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October 3rd, 2007 at 7:12 pm
I really enjoy that EU is such an open organisation for it’s citizens. I really like the way Margot works…
I also hope that new EU members states will increase their economics soon.
Greetings from rainy Vilnius :).
October 3rd, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Margot
Can I please ask why you still promulgate linguistic imperialism through the use of English?
Your use of Eutube is the definitive evidence
October 3rd, 2007 at 9:17 pm
They seem good ideas. However I think one thing is still missing, European newspapers. By European newspapers I mean newspapers which will produce every day the same news in all EU languages. This means that they need a set of journalists from the various countries working together and writing everyday the basic articles in a chosen lingua franca and then a group of translators that will translate them into each of the EU official languages. For cutting costs this kind of newspapers could be published just online, even if maybe they could try to get out also in printed formats due to the fact that the EU market is bigger then any single national one.
Unfortunately this do not seem to be something that Commission can create by itself, otherwise journalists will lose their independence.
October 4th, 2007 at 6:30 am
Margot, you’ve made so many posts on how you and your EU pals are going to attempt to communicate with the people that each successive one appears as just another unwitting self-parody.
October 4th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Brian - if you watch the EUtube clip to the end you’ll see Margot replying to the last question in French. The full version of the interview (12 mins) is on the Audiovisual site.
rtsp://rtsppress.cec.eu.int/Archive/video2/europa/I055089_256.rm
October 4th, 2007 at 9:44 am
L.S.,
@Giacomo Dorigo: What you are describing does not even exist within Belgium…
The closest thing to a proper European newspaper, albeit in that imperialistic english, are European Voice and the Financial Times.
October 4th, 2007 at 10:57 am
Len thinks that EU communication policy is all about “you and your pals” (i.e. the EU institutions) trying to communicate with “the people”.
But if you actually read the Commission proposals yoiu’ll see there’s a lot more to it than that. In the first place, there is no single “people”: there are 27 countries and, within them, a lot of ethnic and cultural communities, interest groups and so on. There is also a wide range of political views - from the rabidly eurosceptic to the fervently euro-federal, and eveything in between including the totaly euro-apathetic.
Margot Wallström’s aim (and it’s shared by the European Parliament and by many governments too) is to get an informed and lively debate goingg between all these groups and schools of thought. To discuss what? basically, our common future. If we are to have a European Union of any kind, what should it look like? What purpose should it serve? What money should be spent n what policies to achieve what goals?
Hearing that debate, people can make up their own minds which way to vote in referenda about EU membership, or abut the Reform Treaty, or in the 2009 euro-elections. People can make Europe a meaningful issue in their national elections too. It’s about democracy.
The Commission’s latest proposals are a step (a small one, admittedly, but it was impossible to agree on more a this stage) in the directon of making that debate happen. People talking to people, and to politicians, and to the “Brussels bureaucrats” as well. A good thing, surely? Let’s make it a reality!
October 4th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Brian Barker Asks: “Can I please ask why you still promulgate linguistic imperialism through the use of English?”. Maybe for the same reason you wrote in English.
Giacomo Dorigo: If there was a market for this EUronewspaper, then the market would fill it. The last thing we need is an Orwellian publication trying to make us all ’sing from the same hymn-sheet’. (Would you, for example, be happy for such a publication to come from Murdoch’s News International, or conversely, from the left-liberal Guardian stable?). Actually, in the real world, newspapers buy (and translate) articles from agencies like AP and Reuters.
October 4th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
“Margot, you’ve made so many posts on how you and your EU pals are going to attempt to communicate with the people that each successive one appears as just another unwitting self-parody.”
Precisely!
October 4th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Guess Who Won’t Be Getting This Cash?…
Tebaf:
Civil society is encouraged to create its own forums for debate. The Commission will help NGOs to establish a network of websites where European issues can be discussed. A named contact point will be set up in each Commission department to allo…
October 4th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
“Civil society is encouraged to create its own forums for debate. The Commission will help NGOs to establish a network of websites where European issues can be discussed. A named contact point will be set up in each Commission department to allow a more equal access to the Commission by NGOs.”
In the UK the premier forum for discussing the EU is EU Referendum. The logical outcome of your plan is therefore that you should be funding Richard North and Helen Szamuely to expand.
Certainly would be interesting if you did but I have a definite feeling that subsidized discussion does not encompass those who disagree with hte project.
October 4th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
@martinned: maybe that could be one of the roots, even if not the only one, of Belgium’s problems…
October 4th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
The most amusing part is that Margo posts again and again and again about how the EU ‘communicates with its citizens’.
The part you missed Margot, with all due respect is the communications from citizens to the EU. Maybe you missed it. France said NO, Holland said NO, and in Britain we WANT OUR REFERENDUM.
Try listening to what you are being told, just for once.
October 5th, 2007 at 3:47 am
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ESPERANTO/ITALIANO
—————————————————-
EO
MARGOT:
the Commission will adopt a new Internet Strategy by the end of this year. The aim is for the Commission to use the internet more as a means of getting information to people and allowing people to discuss and debate European issues. It will aim to help create a network of websites where Europeans can ‘meet’ each other or learn about and discuss issues at a European level.
MI RESPONDAS:
Saluton, kara Margot!
Kion faros la Komisio por ke tiaj retejoj estu lingve nediskriminaciaj? Nur tiele, fakte, ili ebligos veran partoprenadon (”Libereco estas partoprenado”…) kaj atingos la celon deziratan far la Komisiono…
Ebla (kaj miaopinie tre interesa) solvo estas tiu nune uzata de Komisionano Leonard Orban, ĉe http://forums.ec.europa.eu/multilingualism/
GIACOMO DORIGO:
..European newspapers…
MI RESPONDAS:
Tre interesa ideo!
Sendube diskutinda kaj prikonsiderinda!
Amike,
Andrea
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IT
MARGOT:
the Commission will adopt a new Internet Strategy by the end of this year. The aim is for the Commission to use the internet more as a means of getting information to people and allowing people to discuss and debate European issues. It will aim to help create a network of websites where Europeans can ‘meet’ each other or learn about and discuss issues at a European level.
RISPONDO:
Ciao, cara Margot!
Che cosa farà la Commissione affinché tali siti siano linguisticamente non discriminatori? Solo così, infatti, permetteranno una vera paertecipazione (”Libertà è partecipazione”…) e conseguiranno lo scopo desiderato dalla Commisione…
Una possibile (e, secondo me, molto interessante) soluzione è quella attualmente usata dal Commissario Leonard Orban, all’indirizzo http://forums.ec.europa.eu/multilingualism/
GIACOMO DORIGO:
..European newspapers…
RISPONDO:
Idea molto interessante!
Senz’altro meritevole d’essere discussa e presa in considerazione!
Amichevolmente,
Andrea
October 5th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
You say that the EU is big and complex. Can it be please be simplified by us in the UK leaving ?
October 6th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
The closest thing to a proper European newspaper, albeit in that imperialistic english, are European Voice and the Financial Times.
- Martined
Frau Commissioner I have problems whenever you talk about communication, it always means more Anglo-Saxon Hegemony both on your blog and within the EU Commission.
How can advancing Anglo-Saxon interests at the expense of other languages benefit non-speakers in Brno?
As the poster above has pointed out your failure to promote other languages has left a vacuum in the EU and this has been filled by the Financial Times - which is not friend of the EU but a sapper of Anglo-Saxon Hegemony.
This is a newspaper that promotes ills like predatory taxation - the race to the bottom that has made Ireland rich from money poached elsewhere. I certainly want a media outlet that speaks core EU values.
Representative government is best if conducted in vernacular not English. Otherwise the more you talk in English the more alien you appear to people in Brno. They will just see you favouring Anglo-Saxon interests - Al Gore, M Albright, etc. My advice is that the EU Commission has an image problem. It needs first to convince people that it is not serving Anglo-Saxon interests with the slight of the hand at the expense of those of ordinary people.
Plan D is looking more and more Anglo-Saxon by the day.
October 7th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Wallstrom.admin Says:”Brian - if you watch the EUtube clip to the end you’ll see Margot replying to the last question in French. The full version of the interview (12 mins) is on the Audiovisual site.”
I can’t express how excited I am! The last question! In French!
Well that proves that linguistic imperialism has been well and truly trounced!!!
Slovakia will be over the moon!
Oh, and Poland too!
Ah, yes and Lithuania!
Oh, and Bulgaria as well!
And Italy!
Oh, and … well ALL the French speaking countries in Europe!!!!!
I wish I had known it could be so simple!!!!!
October 8th, 2007 at 1:00 am
Thanks Margot, your explanaitions were all very “defensive”. No need to be defensive. It is not too hard to make constructive proposals and advocate them.
“Content” is good. And “political education”. But please mind that schools are sacrosanct.
The political foundations are doing really good work. The Friedrich Naumann Stiftung also introduced the concept of a “virtual academy”. Maybe an inspiration.
http://virtuelle-akademie.fnst.org
I would appreciate “virtual EU academies” e.g. on your current whitepapers.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Inferior asks: :How can advancing Anglo-Saxon interests at the expense of other languages benefit non-speakers in Brno?”
Answer: we Anglo-Saxons can sell you some vowels. That way you can have a city with a pronouncable name
October 8th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
L.S.,
Vowels certainly would be a good place to start…
But seriously, maybe people in Brno should consider learning languages other than their own, like the rest of us do.
October 8th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
try to learn from private firm to build a strog European brand…no one of these will engaging others to achieve its goals
October 8th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
i>Inferior asks: :How can advancing Anglo-Saxon interests at the expense of other languages benefit non-speakers in Brno?”
Answer: we Anglo-Saxons can sell you some vowels. That way you can have a city with a pronouncable name.
- Max Kaye
Max you never cease to amaze me. What exactly did you learn at Eton and Oxford? Arrogance? Snobbery perhaps or the art of spite?
FYI Modern English is not a real language but a Creole of Old English, Old Norse and lots of French, Latin and Greek words. It is unlike any other Germanic language and I personally think it should not be in that category.
English has over the years lost inflections and is actually degrading into a mono-syllabic mishmash. You have people who speak irregular sentences like: Long time no see , Me go see/I be saying and I am going to be saying to you. As this progresses there is lost of precision. Unlike for instance German English lacks precise >> pig | swine or dog | hound or air | lofty, etc.
Contrary to your allegation, English does not aid pronounciation as many words are not spelled as they are written like in German, making the learning process cumbersome.
The point is Frau Commissioner is an agent of Anglo-Saxon Hegemony, whether deliberate or by default. Though I note some linguistic improvements on her blog she is too aligned to the Liberal American Branch of the Anglosphere. She may not like Bush, Cheney, Rummy and the neocon gang but her close association with Cultural Imperialists like M Albright and A Gore is detrimental to the EU Project. We have yet to learn whether our misguided Swede is close pals with the soon-to-be President Hillary Rodham Clinton aka soon-to-be crowned Empress of Pax Americana.
It is makes no sense for English and Anglo-Saxon culture to be given near preference above all others. And this is what Frau Commissioner calls communication.
She is a disppointment with her talk about Plan D for two years. On the contra real leaders like Frau Merkel act - like I told you the German Presidency would be of substance - a Reform Treaty is all but in place
October 8th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Mi ja respondis angle. Mi ja estas anglo.
Tamen mi povintus respondi Esperante.
Bonvole kontroli http://www.lingvo.org/grin/GRIN_en.pdf
October 9th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Inferior,
Sorry old chum. Never went to Eton or up to Oxford. Daddy couldn’t afford the former, my talents were too slight for the latter.
Some other English words that don’t seem to translate are ‘irony’ ‘humour’ and ’sarcasm’. (Mr Bean doesn’t count as humour as - like Benny Hill - he is very childish and purile. Perhaps this explains his great popularity in continental Europe).
Toodle pip!
October 9th, 2007 at 9:27 am
Inferior,
Although we may argue and disagree about most subjects, I’d like to sincerely compliment you on your erudite use of English. I would be proud to be as proficient in another European languge as you are in my mother tongue. (In fact, I’d be delighted if our own natives knew and used English as well as you do).
(Warning - attempt at humour ahead): By the way, doesn’t your excellent use of English make you “an agent of Anglo-Saxon Hegemony, whether deliberate or by default”? If so, does it pay well?
October 9th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
IP/07/1396
Brussels, 26 September 2007
“Enhancing motivation for language learning” - the recommendations of the High Level Group on Multilingualism
The High Level Group on Multilingualism transmitted today to Commissioner Orban its final report with recommendations to the Commission for actions in the field of multilingualism. The Group, comprising 11 experts from across Europe, was set up in response to the 2005 Communication “A new framework strategy for multilingualism”[1]. The Group was given the remit to “provide support and advice in developing initiatives, as well as fresh impetus and ideas for a comprehensive approach to multilingualism in the European Union”.
“The recommendations of this group are very valuable. This report can inspire concrete projects”, Commissioner Orban said. “For instance, research into aspects of multilingualism where there are currently gaps in our knowledge. How language learning can be promoted outside formal educational settings; how to encourage language learning at an older age; how multilingualism can be used for integrating linguistic minorities?”
The report of the Group concentrates on several areas: raising awareness and enhancing motivation on language learning; the potential of the media in evoking, enhancing and sustaining motivation for language learning; languages for business; interpretation and translation – new trends and needs; regional or minority languages; research into multilingualism
Some of the findings of the Group are:
-Launching information campaigns among parents, young people, organisations active in the fields of education and culture, decision makers, etc. to raise the awareness concerning language learning.
-To increase motivation, the group recommends its inclusion as part of the leisure activities, such as sport; including it in extra-curricular activities of young students; providing so-called “edutainment” on television, which combines education and entertainment. Subtitles are considered a good way of teaching languages.
-The High Level Group on Multilingualism draws attention to the potential of immigrants as a source of language knowledge and as an opportunity for companies to use their linguistic and cultural abilities in order to enter the markets where immigrants come from.
-Professionalising the training of third countries languages, such as Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Russian, by creating pan-European benchmarks is considered important for boosting the competitiveness.
-Developing masters in translation and interpretation, developing higher education programmes in the field of legal, court and community translation and interpretation are other recommendations of the High Level Group on Multilingualism.
The full report of the High Level Group is available here.
For more information on the languages in the EU, see here
October 9th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
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ESPERANTO/ITALIANO/ENGLISH
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EO
Saluton, INFERIOR!
Mi varme sugestas al vi legi la artikolon de Professoro Robert Phillipson titolitan:
“International Languages and International Human Rights”!
Amike el Italio,
Andrea..
—————————————————-
IT
Ciao, INFERIOR!
Ti consiglio caldamente di leggere l’articolo del Professor Robert Phillipson intitolato:
“International Languages and International Human Rights”!
Amichevolmente dall’Italia,
Andrea.
—————————————————-
EN
Hallo, INFERIOR!
I warmly suggest you to read the article of Professor Robert Phillipson whose title is:
“International Languages and International Human Rights”!
Friendly from Italy,
Andrea.
October 9th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
@inferior et al
you are perfectly welcome to try and discuss here in Slovenian, Romanian or even Gaelic.
Just don’t expect people like me to do the same thing.
October 10th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Inferior, I wonder what a “real language” is according to you…
One that bears no outside influence or borrowed word ? Such concept of ‘realness’ doesn’t smell very good and, I am afraid, just cannot apply to any language in the world… provided you live in the real one of course.
October 10th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
I fully agree with the proposed actions:
How it is possible to promote in the EU exchanges about the EU websites
Our blog is dedicated to its
htt://europa-eu-audience.typepad.com
Sincerely yours
October 11th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
The biggest problem regarding the EU today is the lack of information provided towards its citizens. Most of the people know what EU IS and what it STANDS FOR, but if you ask them about how the eu WORKS, then they don´t have any idea at all. Information is the key word. Work from that my friend.
October 14th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Here is my opinion:
Europe would be better off without the EU.
I want our national democracy back.
I don’t want foreign politicians forcing their opinion down our throats through QMV.
The EU caused massive devastation in Africa through CAP and CFP (only a racist wouldn’t abolish those 2 policies).
The EU is near to becoming the supreme government of Europe (not a superstate but a supergovernment, a small but significant difference).
Most countries would vote no to both the old and new versions of the treaty if the people were allowed to vote (which is why we are NOT allowed to vote).
Eurosceptics tend to be better informed about the EU’s secret history and political integration plans than most EUphiles who blindly support anything Brussels does yet don’t understand anything about Brussels.
October 18th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
ENGLISH / ESPAÑOL
EN
Dear Vice-President Wallström:
While others try to critic about use of some languages, let’s think about the richness we have. As taught to me in the University of Malaga, there are different mindsets for different languages. An inuit has dozens of words for «white» due to the environment where he has to live, whilst English has just one word for this. This is just an example about the diversity amongst languages that could be extended to diversity of cultures and other fields we are thinking. Maintaining these differences, different people can solve different problems, or show a new ray of light in something another person could be not solving. That’s the main strength or opportunity we deal with inside European Union. Let’s get things done and work to solve things.
Yours faithfully,
Emilio Romero García
ES
Estimada Vicepresidenta Wallström:
Mientras otros critican el uso de algunas lenguas, pensemos en la riqueza que tenemos. Como se me enseñó en la Universidad de Málaga, hay diferentes esquemas mentales para lenguas diferentes. Un esquimal tiene docenas de palabras para «blanco» debido al entorno donde tiene que vivir mientras el inglés tiene tan solo una palabra. Esto es sólo un ejemplo de la diversidad entre lenguas que pudiera ser extendido a diversidad de culturas y otros campos que estamos pensando. Manteniendo estas diferencias, gente diferente puede resolver problemas diferentes, o mostrar un nuevo rayo de luz en algo que otra persona pudiera no estar resolviendo. Esta es la principal fortaleza u oportunidad que tenemos dentro de la Unión Europea. Hagamos las cosas y trabajemos para solucionarlas.
Sin otro particular, reciba un cordial saludo.
Emilio Romero García
October 20th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Nayz yu faynaly rialayz the fact ov no gud enaf comyunikeyshn bitwin European cantriz, congrats
Naw yu shud cam wiz a gud plan ov brayking the languaj barier. Wan thing ay’m prity shur ov that it won’t flay if yu tray to impoz Inglish evrywer yu lac resorses.
Promoting ov Esperanto on the ather hand can bust this proces prity quicly. Ay’m shur if EU wil indors this languaj ofishialy evry wan wil want tu lern it and only after a yer yu’l hav stiming comyunikeyshn acros al baundriz!
Hav a nayz dey
November 22nd, 2007 at 5:32 pm
I would like to object to use of the term ‘third country/ies’. I think it is no different to appellations such as ‘third world’. Non EU-member countries is much more neutral.
–
December 6th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Margo,
What’s the point in publishing a Paper to inform people of their Rights when you won’t do anything
a corrupt Trade Union which persecuted its own members - within the EEC.
Why will you not address this issue Margo? Is it because you don’t want to expose the solicitors
who sat on this case until it became Statute Barred, or is it because the Dockers dying from
exposure to Asbestos embarrasses you.
Instead of just informing about rights -fight for Rights.
Hugh Murphy
April 25th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I would like to second the opinion expressed by “Anonymous” on Nov. 22 and add that the term ‘non-EU country’ is also a lot clearer to people outside the EU.