Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-12-Speech-4-049"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20050512.4.4-049"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the level of information on Europe available to European citizens is extremely low, and the reason for that is not technical, but political. We will vote today on a report concerning the European Union’s information and communication strategy that is seeking to improve the techniques and methods by which the Union promotes itself. Between these methods and the citizens, however, looms a wall of indifference, which is spectacularly demonstrated by the lowest ever turnout at the elections in 2004: only 45.7%. That is not only the effect of an insufficient and bureaucratic communication strategy, but of a Europe that is still very remote from its citizens, who do not know how it is made up, how it began, what its purpose is, whom it serves, of whom it is made up, where it is leading us, and whether it is useful or irrelevant to us.
Let us be clear, this Europe is a construction site, and thus it is obvious that its main features are still not visible. At present, moreover, it is still a union of major economic, commercial and industrial powers, far more so than a union of populations and people. Its institutional architecture suffers greatly as a result of it, and the spirit issuing from it in no way fosters widespread participation by the people. It is also as a result of this isolation that there has arisen the bureaucratic narrow-mindedness that has impeded or obstructed its relationship with the people.
In a Europe of such contrasts, there is not much sense, in fact, in having built one-way, vertical information structures from the centre outwards, since this has imposed a uniform and standardised communication model that has not worked. It is a model, moreover, in which citizens have to seek out information for themselves and not the other way round: this simply means that no information reaches the great majority of the people concerned.
An effective information centre is required, a general staff of communication specialists. However, the concept of decentralised communication is also required, originating from the various countries and conceiving this communication in terms of different ways of thinking and languages; a concept of communication that is not solely propaganda.
I am convinced that an effective way of informing European citizens on Europe is to emphasise not only its strong points but also its weaknesses, because it is also from those that the real, but not utilised, potential of Europe emerges. For this reason
I believe that it would be beneficial for all 25 countries to turn to a referendum, including those countries, such as Italy, that are not bound to do so.
The result does not matter; in the end Spanish, French and British citizens will have a much greater understanding of Italians. This is a legitimate method of communicating in Europe; legitimate because it is democratic."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples