4 European Communication Policy
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5992/06
COM(06) 35
| White Paper on a European Communication Policy
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| Legal base | — |
| Department | Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 29 March 2007
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| Previous Committee Reports | HC 41-v (2006-07), para 4 (10 January 2007), HC 34-xl (2005-06), para 5 (1 November 2006) and HC 34-xxii (2005-06), para 4 (15 March 2006)
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| To be discussed in Council | To be decided
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Relevant to future debates on European Union policy. Further information requested. Not cleared.
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Background
4.1 Starting from what it saw as a widely recognised gap between
the European Union and its citizens, the Commission first produced
an Action Plan with a detailed list of specific measures "to
improve the way it communicates with citizens" and then "Plan-D
for democracy, dialogue and debate", which was "intended
to involve citizens in a wide-ranging discussion on the European
Union — what it is for, where it is going and what it should
be doing".[16] But
these initiatives, the Commission said, would only succeed if
all "the key players" were involved — the other
EU institutions and bodies; the national, regional and local authorities
in the Member States; European political parties; civil society.
Hence this White Paper, whose main purpose is "to propose
a way forward and to invite all these players to contribute their
ideas on how best we can work together to close the gap"
and is aimed at producing "a forward-looking agenda for better
communication to enhance the public debate in Europe".
The White Paper
4.2 The White Paper put forward a number of ideas under five main
headings:
- Defining common principles of an EU Communications Policy,
possibly in a framework document or charter;
- Developing tools and facilities for improved public access
to information;
- More effective involvement of the media and use of new technology
in communicating EU issues in the public domain;
- Improving measures to gauge public opinion; and
- Greater engagement between Member States, EU institutions
and Civil Society Organisations.
4.3 In his accompanying Explanatory Memorandum, the then Minister
for Europe said that the Government welcomed the approach underlying
the White Paper but believed that an EU communications policy
must be formulated and implemented in cooperation with Member
States, respecting national circumstances, and that further discussion
was needed on the detail and framework of the initiatives outlined;
and that he would respond "in due course".
4.4 When we considered it on 15 March 2006, we noted that, as
with the related Communication on "Plan-D", the Minister
had reiterated the necessity of something the Commission had emphasised
in its proposals regarding the primacy of Member States and said
nothing about any of the proposals. We found this surprising,
in that some were both interesting and uncontentious, e.g., the
idea of broadcast discussions between Commissioners and Member
State politicians and/or citizens of current or proposed Commission
policies. We considered the White Paper relevant to the debate
on the "Plan-D: democracy, dialogue and debate", in
the hope that the Government would take the opportunity that it
should have taken in its Explanatory Memorandum to explain at
least its initial views, and kept it under scrutiny until the
Minister let us have a considered response. [17]
He did so in a letter of 26 October 2006, which we considered
and reported to the House on 1 November 2006.
4.5 It was clear that the Commission's proposals were in some
important respects still a work in progress. The Minister himself
drew attention to key elements that he did not support or about
which he was unclear and/or wanted further information, and there
were various aspects about which we felt the House would be interested
in learning more:
- a charter or framework document;
- proposals for joint open debates between the Commission, Parliament
and the European Parliament ;
- what "an over-arching European communication policy"
would contribute (or, indeed, what it meant);
- a properly-costed case for an upgrade of the Commission's
Europe by Satellite service;[18]
- the proposal for a European Programme for Training in Public
Communications;
- what added value would be derived from a report on information
technologies and democracy in Europe by the European Round Table
for Democracy;
- how an independent observatory for public opinion would be
funded, how its independence would be guaranteed and how it would
co-exist with the current Eurobarometer structure; and
- how the Government will cooperate further with the Commission
and European Parliament offices in the UK on communicating more
effectively on the workings of the Institutions and making them
more accessible and transparent.
4.6 We therefore asked the Minister to bring it up to date on
each of these issues no later than the Easter recess, but in the
meantime asked him to let us know more about how the "Europe
Direct" concept is being developed and delivered in the UK,
(e.g., how many such Centres are there planned to be? Where will
they be? What is their "mission"? How much will they
cost to establish and run? How will they be financed?) and for
his views, forthwith, on the idea of broadcast discussions between
Commissioners, about which he continued to remain silent.
4.7 Given that the White Paper's ambition — a fundamentally
new approach, moving decisively away from one-way communication
to reinforced dialogue, from an institution-centred to a citizen-centred
communication, from a Brussels-based to a more decentralised approach
— the approaches taken, and their effectiveness were bound
to continue to be highly controversial, we also considered it
relevant to any future debates on European Union policy.[19]
The Minister's letter of 15 December 2006
4.8 In this earlier letter, the Minister for Europe (Mr Geoffrey
Hoon) described the Europe Direct centres as "the new phase
of public information centres in Member States, providing general
information and practical advice on the EU". He reported
that, since June last year, 25 centres had opened in places such
as libraries, chambers of commerce and local government offices,
part-funded by the Commission (up to 50%) and part-funded by the
host organisation, with the UK Commission Representation managing
the administration. The operating grant for each centre varied
between €2,000 and €24,000 per annum for three years
(2006-09). The Minister was working closely with the European
Commission "to ensure that Europe Direct is a success"
(e.g. ministerial and official attendance, FCO press releases
or ministerial letters of support to increase the profile of their
launches, and FCO input into training events for EU information
providers in the UK). The Commission were actively looking for
proposals for a further 10 in 2007.
4.9 Regarding the broadcasting proposal, the Minister supported
"transparency and work to promote greater public debate about
the EU". But any such broadcasts should be both cost effective
and use the appropriate media; he would expect the Commission
themselves to fund this project; and would also be keen to ensure
that any such broadcasts "genuinely encouraged transparency
and for example, did not merely result in real negotiation and
discussion being driven into the corridors".
4.10 With regard to the idea of broadcast discussions, we had
in mind not so much staged events as participation by Commissioners,
along with UK politicians and opinion formers, in current affairs
programmes on radio and television.
4.11 As for the Europe Direct centres, we considered that it would
be important to ensure that they avoided proselytising and did
indeed concentrate on providing general information and practical
advice on the EU.
4.12 Finally, we looked forward to further information and his
views on the other issues referred to above and in our previous
Report, before the Easter recess, and in the meantime continued
to keep the document under scrutiny.
The Minister's letter of 29 March 2007
4.13 The Minister says that:
"Unfortunately the Commission's formal follow up to the
White Paper, expected in the Spring, has been delayed. The Commission
has been going through a process of consultation, through formal
responses from member states as well as a series of stakeholder
conferences. They now aim to provide more information on their
proposals in June this year".
4.14 In the meantime, he updates us on the Government's own further
cooperation with the Commission and European Parliament office
in the UK, as follows:
"We continue to work very closely with the European Commission
Representation and European Parliament Offices in the UK. I meet
the Heads of their offices every 2-3 months and communications
is one of the regular items we discuss. At the working level,
officials communicate regularly about activities and have worked
closely together on specific initiatives such as training events
for the Europe Direct network.
"Most recently the FCO, together with [the] Department
for Education and Skills and the British Council worked with European
Parliament and Commission representatives in launching the 'Learning
Together' initiative. This initiative will encourage more schools
in the UK to take part in educational partnerships with other
schools across Europe, including through programmes such as Comenius
funded by the EC.
"The FCO website and a leaflet about the initiative sent
to schools across the UK also included signposts to educational
material produced by the European Parliament. 'Learning Together'
will run for the next year as part of our celebrations of the
50th anniversary of the EU.
"We will continue to work alongside our colleagues from
the European Parliament and the Commission to maximise the impact
of the 'Learning Together' initiative, and look forward to exploring
further ways of cooperating more closely with them in the future".
Conclusions
4.15 We are grateful for this further information. However,
as the Minister acknowledges, there are still a number of areas,
as outlined above and in our earlier Reports, where we await answers
and the Minister's considered views.
4.16 So we shall continue to keep the document under scrutiny
until the Minister is able to respond in full, and in the meantime
are reporting this latest information to the House, since we have
already considered this document relevant to any debate on EU
policy.
16 Which we considered on 15 March 2006 (see HC34-xxii
(2005-06) para 4) and was debated in the European Standing Committee
, 23 May 2006, cols. 3-36. Back
17
See headnote. Back
18
The EU's TV Information service Europe by Satellite (EbS): launched
in 1995 and providing TV and radio stations with EU related pictures
and sound in up to 21 or more languages. The programming consists
of a mix of live events, stock shots and finished programmes on
EU subjects produced by various EU Institutions and Directorates
as well as other broadcasters. See http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/ebs/welcome_en.cfm. Back
19
See headnote. Back
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