Wallström hits back at communication critics

By Dana Spinant

Date: 09/02/06

Margot Wallström, the European Commission's vice-president in charge of communication, has defended herself against criticism of her recent White Paper, accusing her colleagues and European politicians of having a very conservative approach to communication.

She admitted to problems in changing attitudes within the Commission.

"We are still struggling with the culture which is in the walls," she said, "with the instinct that it gives us a position of power if we speak in a way that makes us the experts. There is a lot to change and I can see that it takes time."

It would, Wallström said, take the mandate of the current Commission plus another five-year mandate to change the culture.

The commissioner said that her colleagues understood "more and more" the need to communicate, "but we are not there yet".

She said: "Very often they say this is a matter of communication so it is Margot's task. Or they think they can replace a bad consultation with good communication."

The services directive was a good example of this attitude, she said. "You cannot communicate away the fact that you had a very bad consultation on this. We just have to admit to all the errors on this proposal."

The Commission had, she said, to interpret communication in a broad sense "saying that it is a matter of democracy".

"We could of course have done something cosmetic, we could have come up with another advertising campaign, we could have come up with something similar to what George W. Bush did in his state of the union speech to say Americans win when they lead. And hope that the public will agree with that. But this we don't do."

She said that she had expected that her numerous references to democracy in the White Paper would be controversial for her colleagues. But when they read it, they understood, she said, that she wanted to do "something more than say we will do an additional campaign, or try to find a common message".

"It will not work. We are in a more serious and challenging situation from a democratic point of view than we accept," she added.

Wallström rejected the critical reaction to her proposal to create a teachers' college, or a network among professors to improve knowledge of Europe.

"Do we think it is better to get information from [UK newspaper] The Sun? Or should they pretend that the EU does not exist? Should people not have the chance to form their own opinion based on civic education? It's not brainwashing, it would be very rational and practical, making sure that people can also find their information somewhere."

Wallström said the Commission first had to rule out that it was involved in propaganda, "because this is the constant accusation".

She denied that the White Paper on communication was watered down by her colleagues: "It was more about refining the language, how to describe exactly what we want to do, so that we don't trigger this sometimes spinal reaction that some have."

One of the most controversial ideas was that that Europe by Satellite, the EU's in-house audiovisual agency, should be beefed up and given editorial independence.

The Brussels-based press corps, too, reacted negatively to such suggestions, fearing it could become a competitor. "Honestly, this is a rather silly argument," said Wallström. "Who would compete with us following commissioners when they travel to see different projects in member states, covering the whole range of complex talks on institutional matters...nobody will compete with us, we are filling a void."

"These are the same reporters who complain that it is difficult to report about the European Union," she added.

European Commissioner Margot Wallström responds to critics of the White Paper on Communication Policy, adopted February 2006.

• Primary Source

European Commission: COM(2006) 35, White Paper on a European Communication Policy, 1.2.06 http://ec.europa.eu/comm/communication_white_paper/doc/white_paper_en.pdf

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