Union’s approach to PR set for shake-up

Date: 03/08/00

By John Shelley

PLANS to overhaul the way the Union 'sells' itself to the general public across 15 member states will be unveiled in the autumn.

The 'dialogue with the citizens' proposals, drawn up jointly by European Commission President Romano Prodi and education chief Viviane Reading, had been set for adoption by the EU executive in June. But the report, which recommends that the Commission shed much of its direct responsibility for raising the Union's profile, has been delayed until the autumn while officials assess the results of a review of what tasks the institution could farm out to external bodies. Adoption of a further paper examining the role of the Union's offices in each member state has also been postponed.

Commission officials say the two papers will address the Union's perceived failure to get a positive image of its institutions and work across to the citizens of Europe.

"We know that at the moment our communication with the general public is not good enough," said one. "Too many people are not interested enough in the European Union. You only have to look at the turn-out in the last Parliament elections to see that something needs to be done."

The dialogue paper will argue that it is unrealistic to expect the EU to have an effective communications policy while responsibility for getting its message across to the public is centralised in the Commission. It will call for the task to be decentralised, with member states playing a much more prominent role.

Detailed plans will only be unveiled once political agreement on this principle has been reached, but they are likely to include proposals for a new agency with responsibility for dialogue with citizens.

Plans to overhaul the way the Union 'sells' itself to the general public across 15 Member States will be unveiled in the autumn.