Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-23-Speech-1-192"
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"en.20090323.23.1-192"2
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"Mr President, allow me just a small but completely personal digression that has nothing to do with the question that my colleague asked. I do not fully understand your desire to see NGOs participate in the election campaign. I do not understand, but I will pass on this request to my colleague.
As regards the need for information at local and regional levels, aimed particularly at young people, first-time voters and women, I note with satisfaction the congratulations the Commission has received for the choice of projects under Plan D.
I will take this opportunity to announce that the Commission also intends, in the context of the European elections, to run special activities in the framework of the Debate Europe Plan D initiative
As for the creation of a new website and the establishment of links with local television stations, I would like to say that the Commission is in the process of creating networks of radio and television operators that will broadcast programmes on European issues. Once they are all up and running, these networks, together with
will reach between 60 and 90 million citizens each week in all the languages of the European Union.
As for the importance of introducing courses in European law and European history into the school curriculum, the Commission shares the opinion that young people should be taught the essential facts about the European Union at school. We hope that the Member States will follow up this suggestion on this important issue.
There are many other interesting recommendations that are worthy of our attention, but unfortunately we have only a limited amount of time.
Allow me to conclude by returning to an essential aspect of the framework of efforts made by the Community institutions: effective communication is possible only with the close cooperation of all the parties involved. The Commission appreciates the unfailing support it receives from Parliament. For my part, I applaud your personal commitment as a member of the European Parliament.
The current political and economic situation is obviously increasing the need for an active dialogue with the citizens. The latter must be informed of the changes to the European Union that have a direct or indirect effect on their daily lives and in which they must be able to be involved.
This has formed the basis of the Commission’s work during the last four years. I very much welcome the report by Mr Hegyi entitled ‘Active dialogue with citizens on Europe’. We are striving to give the citizens of the 27 Member States of the European Union a wide range of basic information on the European Union, so that they can not only understand how the European Union could help to respond to the major challenges facing Europe and the world today, but also exchange and share their opinions on this issue.
We are also looking to create many more accessible forums in which to pursue this debate, using all the resources and all the technologies available today: in on-line forums, via the media and at local level.
Whilst agreeing with a number of the recommendations set out in the report, my colleague is unable to support the idea that communication has not worked up until now. She also says that, whilst our communication has certainly improved over recent years, we still have to be realistic about what can be achieved with a budget of only EUR 100 million for 27 Member States, 23 languages and almost 500 million people.
In addition, the Commission can certainly not be alone in communicating with the citizens on the issue of Europe. A collective effort from all the institutions and all the Member States is needed. This is why we have negotiated an agreement with the Member States and with Parliament for joint communication on Europe. This political agreement entitled ‘Communicating Europe in Partnership’ was signed on 22 October 2008. This is the first time that the institutions of the Member States of the European Union have made a common commitment jointly to communicate on Europe with the citizens of the European Union. It is important for us now fully to implement this agreement. I am in complete agreement about the importance of the process for consulting the citizens and about the need to extend the dialogue to all levels of society.
Regular dialogue between the Commission and representatives of civil society began over thirty years ago. It takes account of the policy of openness and inclusion that the Commission has been applying for many years and illustrates the great variety of fields of action and the diversity of the parties involved.
I would like to stress that cooperation between the Commission’s delegations and Parliament’s information offices in the Member States is working very well overall.
The forthcoming European elections are a very good example of the political will of these two institutions to cooperate in order to establish joint communication priorities."@en1
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