How to close Europe's communication gap?

12.00.00am GMT Tue 10th Jan 2006

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in the European Parliament organized today a seminar on the subject of communicating Europe to its 460 million citizens.

ALDE group leader Graham WATSON opened the debate by highlighting the failure of institutions to involve and engage public opinion over a number of years. "Never mind that Europe has enjoyed sixty years of peace and unprecedented prosperity or that it is building an internal market which delivers more jobs and greater choice for all our citizens. The European debate is still seen through the lens of distorted debate, where bendy bananas, curved cucumbers and chunky carrots get more media time than parliamentary debate and where daft directives, like regulating exposure to sunlight, get more column inches than life-enhancing legislation", he said. Questioning why Brussels-bashing has become so popular, Graham Watson said: "The people of Europe are not involved in our decisions and they feel ignored and uncertain of our motives. Liberals and Democrats believe that Europe has a new purpose, with globalisation bringing supranational challenges such as mass migration, climate change, terrorism and crime. The EU is part of the solution to these challenges", he said.

Margot WALLSTROM, vice-president of the European Commission, drew attention to the forthcoming White Paper on Communication, due on the 1st February 2006, which will attempt to refocus attention on a citizens based approach rather than on institutions. Recent Eurobarometer surveys have showed than an increasing number of the public feel alienated and distrustful of European institutions and its politicians.

The responsibility of member States for communicating their decisions was highlighted by many speakers for whom Europe and its policy decisions is a matter of political debate and choice. Europe's citizens need to be more involved and informed. Europe should be debated from bottom up rather than top down.