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Tom De Smedt, Wolfgang PetzoldEuropean Committee of the Regions
Territory, identity and citizenship: communicating the EU across levels of government
Presentation for a video conference with the University of Strathclyde,
European Policies Research Centre, Glasgow
24 March 2015
• How did concepts of European identity and EUcitizenship develop?
• What approach does EU (institutional) communication follow?
• What is special in communicating the EU structural funds and EU cohesion policy?
• What do surveys, evaluations and academic literaturesay in relation to the aforementioned questions?
Guiding questions
1973: European Summit adopts report on European identity
1975: Commission report “Towards a European citizenship” and “Tindeman report” including a chapter on “people’s Europe”
1977: EP resolution on “European citizenship”
1979: Commission proposes Directive on “citizens rights of residence”
1985/86: Attempts (Commission, EP) fail to bring “citizenship rights” into the Treaties via the Single European Act
1992: The Maastricht Treaty grants all EU citizens free movement, political rights, common diplomatic protection, and the right to petition Parliament and appeal to the Ombudsman
1997: Treaty of Amsterdam: EU citizenship shall “complement national citizenship”
2009: Lisbon Treaty introduces “European Citizens’ Initiative”
2010, 2013: European Commission reports on citizenship
Development of EU citizenship
Image of the EU 2006-2014
Eurobarometer 82/2014
30
total positive neutral total negative don‘t know
Local vs. national vs. EU/European identity
EB 82, autumn 2014EB 67, spring 2007
Who is best placed to explain the EU?
Eurobarometer 298, 2012
France: Voters abstention in multi-level elections
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009
European
Regional
NationalLocal
Presidential
60
40
20
Source: Wikipedia, several government websites
Germany: Voters abstention in multi-level elections
European
Regional*
Local*
National
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
1977
1990
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
60
40
20
1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009
* Regional and local elections for Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony only
Source: Wikipedia, several government websites
EP Research Service (2014)
EP elections turn-out 1979-2009 vs. EU member states and US congress
Public trust in the institutions2004-2014
Eurobarometer 82/2014
EU National Parliament National Government
Feeling like a citizen of the EU?
Eurobarometer 82, 2014
Feeling European?
Eurobarometer 82, 2014 (European citizenship)
Do you know your rights as an EU citizen?
Eurobarometer 82, 2014
A positive image of the EU?
EU average: 39%
Eurobarometer 82/2014
23
51
24
59
3739
34
40
38
47
38
61
37
31
31
45
50
40
41
3730
53
42
35
42
39
38
5339
42
Short history of EU communication (1)
1960s until mid 1990s
“Permissive consensus“
One-way information flow, mainly to elite audience
Communication to broader audience mainly Euro-optimistic, linked to key moments (enlargement, single currency, etc)
Short history of EU communication (2)
2004-2009Commissioner for Communication Policy (M. Wallström);Several Commission Communications including “Plan D“Period of inter-institutional coordination
2009-2014Period of institutional branding (Commission)European Year of the Citizen (2013) 2014 election campaign
2014-2020: …
Commission Parliament
DG COMM
Reps
DG COMM
EPIO
Other EUinstitutions
Institutional communication
partners in Member States
Comm. agencies
Communicatorscompanies,
governments, NGOs, etc.
Media
Council of the EU Europ. ParliamentEurop. Commission
DG COMM/spokes DG COMM IGI
37 Representations 35 EPIOs
500+ EDICs
Citizens‘ Dialogues
DGs: campaigns, networks
Club of Venice
EU communication policy
EuroPCom
Interinst. Cooperation
WPI/spokes Member States
WPI: Working Party on InformationEDIC: European Direct Information CentreEPIO: European Parliament Information OfficeIGI: Inter-institutional Group on InformationClub of Venice: Informal group of EU institutions‘ and government communication professionalsEuroPCom: European Conference on Public Communication
Communicating EU Cohesion Policy (1)
1989-1993: “information and publicity“ by the implementing authorities, towards beneficiaries and general public; Commission to be informed;
1994-1999: publicity already for the “development plan”; a Commission Decision laid down detailed arrangements on a “coherent set of measures” to be implemented by the “competent national, regional and local authorities in cooperation with the Commission’s departments”;
2000-2006: specific regulation on “information and publicity measures” laid down requirements for billboards, communication plans, including a strategy and a budget, and persons in charge at national and MA level for monitoring and coordinating the plans; an informal network of communication officers, the Structural Funds Information Team (SFIT), is set up in 2002; European Transparency Initiative (2005) requires access to funding data;
Communicating EU Cohesion Policy (2)
2007-2013: provisions are part of the implementing regulation an define communication plans as well as “minimal requirements” for the managing authorities and the final beneficiaries for informing the general public, and the publication of a list of final beneficiaries by the managing authority; INFORM (DG REGIO) and INIO (DG EMPL) become formal networks of communication officers including annual meetings and conferences (2007, 2013);
2014-2020: 7-year communication strategy to be accompanied by annual action plans adopted by the Monitoring Committee), single website for all EU cohesion policy programmes at national level; definition of lists of beneficiaries more detailed, to be updated every six months.
2008, 2010, 2013: Eurobarometer surveys on awareness and perception of EU regional policy:
Level of awareness: between 49% (2008) and 34% (2010, 2013)Positive perception: between 70% (2008) and 77% (2013)
Eurobarometer Flash 384/2013
Ever heard about EU-funding improving the area you live in?
Does regional EU-funding have a positive or negative impact?
Eurobarometer Flash 384/2013
EU communication flows
National governments
EU messages
National media Civil society, parties, lobby organisations
EU-minded/fund seekers
General public
Elite public
EU public
Institutions, tools, channels: EU projects, internet, (social) networks, media
New approach for EU communication strategy 2015-2019?
• Eurobarometer surveys confirm that a European identity and the feeling of belonging vary across countries and time.
• In legal terms, EU citizenship have developed through Treaty revisions (Maastricht, Amsterdam) and led to the concept of “complementary EU citizenship“.
• Historically, EU communication policy is rooted in information given by EU institutions to EU-minded bureaucrat and expert communities.
• Since the end of the 1980s, EU programmes, namely the ones co-financed by the structural funds, have developed detailed rules and tools for publicity and communication around the funds‘ interventions.
• With the fall of the Santer Commission in 1999, EU institutions have opened up to new ways of symmetric communication.
• Communication and media research on European identity and citizenship has focused on the concept of a ‘European public sphere‘.
Conclusions
