Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-14-Speech-5-043"
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"en.20000414.3.5-043"2
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"Mr President, I should like to thank Mr Andreasen for his question since it gives me the opportunity to express the extent to which I share his views, as, indeed, I emphasised during my hearing before this House last September. It is true that there is a gulf between the citizen and Europe. It is true that we have all, not just the Commission, but also Parliament and the Member States, made many mistakes in our information policy in the past. We must all, not just the Commission in isolation but the Commission in collaboration with the Member States and with Parliament, proceed to examine the matter in depth and develop a new information policy.
Moreover, let me tell you quite explicitly that I have taken careful note of the problems which exist. I must tell you, too, that there are some things which are working well; it is not all bad. For instance, we have just started up ‘Europe direct’, a new access facility for citizens looking for information about Europe. We have our Euro-info-points and information outlets in the Member States, which, generally speaking, are very successful. Along with the honourable Member, I admit that we might be able to improve the way they operate, and I shall indeed make every effort to achieve this.
The honourable Member also mentioned modern technology. Obviously, the new information policy which we are going to be implementing will have to optimise the use of all the information and communication possibilities which this new technology makes available to us.
In my opinion, one of the major mistakes of the past, in our information policy, was the fact that this was often top-down information identified, wrongly, I must say, as propaganda. That must be taken into consideration. We must take the psychology of the public into consideration and we must ensure that dialogue is established. Moreover, I would draw your attention to the fact that my fellow Commissioner, Michel Barnier, and myself, have initiated dialogue on the Intergovernmental Conference which is to follow this new approach, i.e. making contact with the public, with young people and opinion formers, and discussing matters with them, and also approaching locally, regionally and nationally elected representatives on behalf of the Commission, not to make fine speeches, but to discuss things with them and to gain some idea of their general expectations. I am, of course, counting a great deal on Parliament to play its part in this citizen information campaign. Parliament is the body which is closest to the citizens, and if all the Members of the European Parliament fulfil their task of informing citizens – and I shall assist them as much as I possibly can to do so – this will enable us to change mindsets.
We have once again started to work within an interinstitutional working party on ‘information’, in which Parliament is represented, and as part of this work, which is a tripartite effort involving the national states, the European Parliament and the Commission, I plan to present a communication to you in the near future outlining a new approach which I shall first present to the Commission, some time before the summer, and which I shall then discuss with you. I cannot give you any details at this early stage of the actual proposal, as it is still being drawn up, but I can assure you that the main pillars of this new approach will be decentralisation, subsidiarity, closeness to the citizens, the coresponsibility of the European institutions and the national administrations and also the increased participation of civil society.
I also think we must all clarify our respective roles. Obviously, the Parliament’s role is different to that of the Commission. I am deeply convinced that Parliament’s special role must continue. Any collaboration in the field of information must allow for the specific character of each institution. It is possible to cooperate without the parties involved losing their own identities, but we should nonetheless all work in the same direction and we must know that the closer we are to the citizens, the greater our chances of being comprehensible, credible and effective.
In order to do so, we must seriously examine the way we are organised, the instruments and procedures we select, what is being done at the various levels, at institutional, national and regional level, and how tasks are divided between the three institutions. We must also, openly and objectively, look at our own way of working and examine how we can avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.
That, Mr President, is what I wanted to say for the time being. Obviously, the discussion is only just being initiated and will not be completed today, because in the very near future we shall be presenting a communication on our new information policy which we are going to discuss in detail with you."@en1
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