EU for the disabled and ageing

Am I the only one who finds it odd that the ten new factsheets for citizens of the European Union are posted on the web pages of vice-president Viviane Reding, not DG Justice? Mercifully there was no reference to the political guidelines of Commission president José Manuel Barroso on this page.

Translations have been promised, but at this moment the factsheets are available in English, French and German. The first is one A4 page dedicated to people with physical or mental disabilities, including restrictions brought on by ageing:

Removing obstacles for the disabled

The main thrust of the leaflet seems to be, first of all to acknowledge that there are many people with disabilities and that ageing will increase their numbers substantially, and secondly to plug the new disability strategy, contained in a fresh communication from the Commission:

European Disability Strategy 2010-2020: A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe; Brussels 15.11.2010, COM(2010) 636 final

The relatively brief strategy was accompanied by a detailed analytical staff working document SEC(2010) 1323 (88 pages) and an initial implementation plan SEC(2010) 1324 (20 pages).


Update 8 December 2010: For the convenience of readers, links to the Commission staff working documents accompanying the communication from the Commission (available only in English):

European Disability Strategy 2010-2020: A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe; Brussels 15.11.2010, SEC(2010) 1323 final

European Disability Strategy 2010-2020: A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe - Initial plan to implement the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 - List of Actions 2010-2015; Brussels 15.11.2010, SEC(2010) 1324 final



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Macarena Rodríguez blogs actively and expertly from Brussels to Spain (and the Spanish speaking world) on La Oreja de Europa (Europe's Ear), underlining the quality and engagement of Spanish Euroblogs.

EU's ”bonus citizenship”: Factsheets for EU citizens

Viviane Reding is the member of the European Commission responsible for citizenship, as well as justice and fundamental rights. Although I was far from impressed by the Commission report about the EP elections, Reding has done a lot to keep the issues of EU citizenship alive.

While the Justice and Home Affairs Council only briefly took note of the Commission's 2010 EU citizenship report, vice-president Reding was actively building bridges towards citizens of the European Union, as shown by the brand new press release, information page and factsheets mentioned in the blog post (in Finnish, but most links to materials in English): Esitteitä ja virallistietoa Euroopan unionin kansalaisen oikeuksista (4 December 2010).

In a comment on Grahnlaw, Mark Gris wanted us to check out the factsheets on EU citizenship.

I had decided to do it at a leisurely pace, highlighting one factsheet at a time, but let us start with the press release containing the needed links for the ones who are more impatient:

European Commission puts citizenship at the heart of justice and social affairs policies; Brussels 3 December 2010, IP/10/1642.REV

Even if the political rights of EU citizens are underdeveloped, the additional union citizenship status is a ”bonus citizenship”, patriarchally offering keys to some practical benefits.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Spain is one of the top countries in the Euroblogosphere, offering both quality and quantity. On the Spanish Euroblog – Blog colectivo europeo – hosted by El País, many of the top eurobloggers in Spain publish their posts, so there is a healthy variety of writers and themes.

Viviane Reding and EU Justice

Justice and Home Affairs affect citizens and businesses more directly than most EU policies, and there is a whole lot going on.

The Lisbon Treaty entered into force a year ago, and the area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) now resembles 'normal' policies and internal actions of the European Union more than before.

The previous blog post looked briefly at Cecilia Malmström and EU Home Affairs, so now we take a peek at Viviane Reding and EU Justice.


EU Justice

Viviane Reding is vice-president of the European Commission and responsible for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship. Her Commission website is actively updated.

It took about six months, but then the Commission got separate Directorates-General for Home Affairs and Justice, both from 1 July 2010. However, they still seem to share the same culture. When I checked the Documentation centre and the Newsroom of DG Justice, they looked as lethargic as the corresponding web pages of their erstwhile fellow workers.

I wonder why.


JHA Council

Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) share the same Council configuration. The conclusions from the last meeting of this Council configuration during the Belgian presidency run to 37 pages, which gives us an indication of highly active policy areas:

Press release: 3051st Council meeting (Justice and Home Affairs), 2-3 December 2010 (provisional version; document 16918/10)

As with home affairs, there is a need for critical but constructive reporting and discussion about EU justice, fundamental rights and citizenship issues.


Citizenship report

I have been following EU citizenship issues on my blogs, so we might as well quote the Council conclusions with regard to the report from the Commission COM(2010) 603:

2010 EU citizenship report

The Council took note of the Commission's 2010 EU citizenship report: Dismantling the obstacles to EU citizens' rights (15936/10). The report analysis the areas where citizens are facing obstacles in the exercise of their rights and proposes 25 initiatives for tackling these obstacles.

You can find the initiatives in the blog post 'EU citizenship: 25 proposals' as well.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. 'The Blog with the European perspective' is how the team blog Kosmopolito describes itself; now closely following Wikileaks / Cablegate.

Know your rights as an EU citizen

Are you moving within the European Union? Are you looking for work in another EU country, or are you setting up shop? Is your employer turning you into an expat? Do you want to spend retirement in another EU member state? Are there family reasons for relocating? Do you want to bring your non-EU family members into the European Union?

There are different reasons for relocating, but you should know your rights as an EU citizen. The European Commission now offers you the means to sort out the basics, before you meet public officials or turn to outside experts for advice.

At the European Commission’s DG Justice, vice-president Viviane Reding published a number of new documents concerning EU citizenship this week. (As a consequence, the informational quality of the DG Justice web pages is starting to improve, although many of them still resemble archives more than communication in real time.)

One of the positive actions was a new brochure for EU citizens, published as a high and a low resolution version in 22 languages. The freedom to move and to reside in the European Union is relevant for mobile citizens of the European Union, who plan to move to another EU country or already live outside their country of origin. It also concerns their non-EU family members:

Freedom to move and live in Europe - A Guide to your rights as an EU citizen (40 pages)

The thirteen chapter headings give you an idea of what you can expect to find basic guidance on:

Chapter 1 What is EU citizenship?
Chapter 2 Who can benefit?
Chapter 3 Where can you exercise this right?
Chapter 4 Preparing to move
Schengen rules
Chapter 5 The first three months
Reporting your presence
Chapter 6 After three months
Chapter 7 Administrative formalities
EU citizens
Non-EU family members
Sanctions
Chapter 8 Keeping the right to reside
Family members
Chapter 9 Right of permanent residence
Administrative requirements
Chapter 10 Equal treatment
Chapter 11 Restrictions
Chapter 12 Transitional arrangements for workers
Chapter 13 How to protect your rights

Besides the Treaty provisions on EU citizenship, the so called Citizenship Directive 2004/38 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States is important for you and 11 million other mobile union citizens.




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Perhaps you should stay on top of what is happening in the European Union. Nowadays online communication offers you unprecedented ease of access to mainstream media and social media in Europe. Multilingual Bloggingportal.eu aggregates the posts from 686 blogs related to the European Union and the Council of Europe. These Euroblogs keep you up to date and they give you the opportunity to hone your language skills.

Improve information about EU citizens’ rights!

Ensuring correct implementation of the Citizens Directive 2004/38 by all EU member states has proven to be a tough task for the European Commission (brief background history in Swedish).



The Directive 2004/38 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States is mentioned only once in the twelve pages of the Commission’s 27th annual report on monitoring the application of EU law (2009); Brussels, 1.10.2010 COM(2010) 538 final:

Following the Metock judgment [C-127/08], guidelines were discussed in the expert group on the application of Directive 2004/38 before the launch of a programme of bilateral meetings with all Member States on the transposition of EU rules on free movement of citizens and their family members.

Commission staff documents missing



We saw that the monitoring report from the Commission was accompanied by two SEC documents. However, if you search for SEC(2010) 1143 or 1144 under SEC documents on Eur-Lex, you get the less than helpful reply ‘Not available in English’.

I wonder: Why has the Commission posted only the brief overview, but omitted the ‘beef’, which is contained in the detailed annexes?



EP Legislative observatory Oeil



Even the Legislative observatory Oeil of the European Parliament does not list the accompanying documents with the report from the Commission COM(2010) 538 in the customary manner, but if we are resilient enough to search for the annexes separately we actually find what we are looking for.

Searching should be easier.



Sector by sector analysis


We find a hefty 512 page document with more detailed analysis sector by sector, a treasure trove for researchers and lawyers:




Commission staff working document: Situation in the different sectors; Brussels, 1.10.2010 SEC(2010) 1143 final; 512 pages.

There are numerous references to the sad state of implementation of Directive 2004/38. I am going to quote just two examples.

The first one is in section 3.1.1.2. Report on progress made in 2009 regarding free movement of workers (on page 62):

The Commission services have received many queries and complaints concerning the residence rights of migrant workers in the host Member State. It is still partly due to the fact that in May 2006, Directive 2004/38/EC effectively entered into force and introduced new residence formalities and some important new rights (such as the right of permanent residence). With a view to ensuring the respect of the provisions of Directive 2004/38/EC, the Commission services have been organising bilateral contacts with Member States to make sure that the Directive is correctly transposed and applied across the EU.

My second example is in the section 14.6. Free movement of persons (from page 439, the quote from the following page), where the Commission indicates the state of free movement of persons:

In 2009, the Commission continued to deal with a large number of enquiries and complaints in the area of free movement of persons – 1000 were replied in 2009 compared with 1070 in 2008. Complaints management was also a significant part of ensuring full and proper implementation of Directive 2004/38/EC. In 2009, 205 complaints were registered with the Secretariat-General (compared with 81 registered in 2008).

There were 37 written EP questions and 36 petitions in the area of free movement of persons in 2009.

Statistical annex

The other accompanying document is (part of?) a statistical annex, with 118 pages of detailed information about procedures:



Commission staff working document: Statistical annex - Annexes I to III (Volume 1); Brussels, 1.10.2010 SEC(2010) 1144 final



Comments

The Commission and the European Parliament should do more to inform about problems concerning the implementation of EU law, and to foster debate on these issues. This includes the enforcement of the rights of EU citizens and their families to free movement and residence.

I hope that the European Parliament takes a close look at citizens’ rights when it starts to evaluate the report on the application of EU law in 2009.

In mid October 2010 we are still looking at a report regarding 2009, however forward-looking the Commission has tried to make it.

There is a need for more timely information. The Commission has an opportunity to show its dedication to citizens’ rights, including Directive 2004/38, when it communicates its actions with regard to Paris and the other capitals.



The new Directorate-General Justice has formally updated its web pages, but the newsroom and the other pages are still more burdened by history than filled with complete and updated information. You have to go to the pages of justice commissioner Viviane Reding, which are more up to date (see News, Press releases and Speeches), but there are still many cracks between the floor boards.




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Nowadays it is increasingly hard to find European enterprises, public authorities or interest groups without an active social media presence, or a stake in European Union affairs. Politics, policies, economics and law at a EU level are becoming more important in a globalising world, at least if Europeans still want to weigh in.

EU-related blogs are a significant aspect of the emerging European online public space. There are now 673 Euroblogs, or blogs related to European Union (and Council of Europe) affairs, listed on Bloggingportal.eu, the multilingual aggregator.



You can take a look at the stream of all new posts, or follow the editors’ choices on the front page. You can also subscribe to the streams (all or highlighted) and the newsletters (daily or weekly) without cost.



Bloggingportal.eu needs a few more voluntary editors for the daily tagging of posts according to subjects. Why not increase your understanding of European affairs, improve your language skills and do something useful by joining the team of editors?

“Romagate”: France exposed and Reding rising

After the exposure and then the reactions from Nicolas Sarkozy, Pierre Lellouche, Eric Besson and Chantal Brunel (to name a few), it is refreshing to find that some want to evaluate the actions of the French government on the merits of the case.



What makes it even more honourable is that the Swedish MEP Gunnar Hökmark (Moderaterna) sits in the EPP group with the French president’s party Union pour un mouvement populaire (UMP).

Hökmark says that the Commission has made a legal assessment of the expulsion of Roma by France. The next step is the Court, but the Commission’s account leaves few doubts about France’s guilt. The French government and president cannot reject that as party political attacks. France will have to live with the coming judgment.



Michael Malherbe thinks about Reding’s speech from a communication perspective. What makes it such a success?

Her message is readable, clear, credible and non-partisan, says Malherbe (in French) on Se former à la communication européenne: Quelles sont les raisons du succès de la déclaration de Viviane Reding sur la situation de Roms en France ? (14 September 2010).



The European Union seldom offers the public drama like this: Official lies, racial targeting exposed, Commission finally embracing action, blustering counter-attacks. No wonder that Eurobloggers on Bloggingportal.eu and elsewhere have been busy writing about “Romagate”.



Andrew J Burgess, on the blog La Treizième Étoile, presented commissioner Viviane Reding’s message to the French government, and concluded that the Commission is mandated to uphold European law as laid down by EU treaties, and thus it could hardly keep “schtum” (silent).



According to Gulf Stream Blues it was obvious all along that the French government was targeting Roma (gypsies) as a group, but the leaked internal memo made a big difference legally. However, the American writer is shocked by the casual racism towards Roma in many European countries. In times of economic trouble, people have a tendency to look for scapegoats.



Charlemagne’s notebook discusses the reasons for the change of tone, given the Commission’s caution when Roma were being evicted from Italy last year: Reding and the riot act (14 September 2010).



Reding said what the whole world expected from José Manuel Barroso’s speech on the state of the Union regarding the Roma, says Matizandrea’s Blog (in Italian): Super Reding contro Sarkò (14 September 2010). He ends by quoting a tweet from Reding: Discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin or race has no place in Europe.




On Myeurop, Jean-Sébastien Lefebvre had already presented the background, including the the (astonishing) first media reactions by Pierre Lellouche and Eric Besson. Lefebvre agrees with Jean Quatremer that Reding should have spoken French, but not for reasons of national pride. Most of the French aren’t that good at English, so she should have spoken directly to the French people. Being closer to her audience would have turned her victory into a triumph.




On the Euros du Village blog for Les Européens du Grand Lille, Vivien Sierens shows the shocking and populist language the French president has used, rejecting the republican values, when he stigmatised the Roma population and described them as illegals, although most of them are EU citizens: Roms : la Commission contre-attaque. Indignation gives way to a duty to act when the presidential rhetoric is transformed into administrative letters targeting an ethnic group.



Anne-Marie Blajan, on Menaru (in Romanian), comments more on Quatremer’s indignation due to the use of English, than to the issue of mass repatriation.



Given the multiple scandals brewing, The European Tribune community has picked up and translated a presentation by Arrêts sur images of France as a “rogue state” or “-stan”. It is time for French media to call a cat a cat, a racist a racist and a liar a liar. - You are in for a treat.



Socialist politician (PSOE) Carlos Carnero González made a brief return from the political scene in Madrid to write a note on commissioner Viviane Reding’s statement - Europa se mueve (15 September 2010) – with a link to El País, which has more details.




Ralf Grahn

France: How to help Europe close ranks against your country on Roma expulsions

Through Bloggingportal.eu and other sources I have tried to follow the voices of Europeans on justice commissioner Viviane Reding’s attempt to stem the tide of ethnically motivated collective expulsions of Roma from France.



Conor Slowey, The European Citizen, has steadfastly called for action from Commission president José Manuel Barroso, commissioner Reding and the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, in and open letter to them published in the blog entry Europe: Speak up on Rights and Citizenship! (5 August 2010), the blog post The Moral Authority of Europe (26 August 2010) and the latest entry The Commission bravely missed an opportunity to stay quiet (15 September 2010).



As a French citizen, Greg Henning is ashamed. On EU Weekly he asks for punishment for the government of France (in French): Punissez-nous, Punissez-nous ! (14 September 2010)



Journal du Marché Intérieur highlights the “virulent” language of the Commission’s press release before arriving at the two grounds for legal proceedings Reding has promised, in: Roms : la Commission en colère sur la France (14 September 2010).



On her EUobserver blog, Honor Mahony commented on the strong language of Reding’s speech, which had been “a long time coming”. After recording the lies and denial of basic principles of EU law by French government ministers, Mahony ended by saying that the commission has finally taken a stand, and filled the moral void that has been at the centre of the EU since this sorry – and dangerous – episode began.



Anne-Marie Blajan, on Menaru, offers a view from Romania, from where many of the Roma have gone to France. She comments on the policies of the French government, as well as on the difficulties to integrate the Roma, in: Despre romi, despre Comisia Europeana si despre noi, romanii (14 September 2010).



Mary Honeyball MEP (S&D group, UK Labour) congratulates Reding for her strong and outright condemnation of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s “totally indefensible expulsion” of Roma people from France: Commissioner Reding attacks Sarkozy on Roma expulsions (14 September 2010).



France one step closer to being indicted, Anders Selnes writes on Swedish Europabloggen, recording the false assurances by French ministers: Frankrike ett steg närmare EU-åtal (14 September 2010).



Yesterday Jean Quatremer joined the fray with a post where he called commissioner Reding’s statement a declaration of war, but he also explains the misleading statements by the French ministers and the arrogant and bombastic counter-attack by Pierre Lellouche against the resolution by the European Parliament: Roms: La Commission européenne accuse la France de discrimination raciale (14 September 2010). Instead of foolhardy wars of words with the Commission, France would better Europeanise the real problem of the Roma.



In a second post, Quatremer expends almost as much energy to lambast Reding for speaking English with the Brusslels press corps.



I would be more worried about the continuing stream of arrogant and insulting comments from president Sarkozy’s government and political party, such as still today by UMP spokesperson Chantal Brunel (via Fabien l’européen).

They could hardly have been more effective in isolating France and forcing even the unwilling member states to distance themselves from the its discredited government, if it had been their intention.




Ralf Grahn

France expelling EU citizens: European voices

Yesterday, I tried to concentrate my view of commissioner Viviane Reding’s speech to the European press and the French government’s words and deeds concerning Roma expulsions into a short blog post.

Many have reacted, some long before and some later. Here are a few voices from the European online public sphere.



More than three weeks ago, Vihar Georgiev on European Union Law asked if the expulsion of Roma is legal, describing the rights and limitations under the two applicable legal systems: EU law and the European Convention on Human Rights (23 August 2010).



On 8 September 2010 Georgiev wrote a follow-up post, where he noted the heated debate in the European Parliament and the Commission’s failure to provide a clear answer. Yesterday he commented on commissioner Reding’s strong statement and the need for European politicians to grasp the importance of the legal foundation of the European Union.



Alphia Abdikeeva wrote on the blog of the Centro de Investigaciones en Derechos Humanos (CIDH), which is based in Spain: A ghost of racism in Europe (9 September 2010). She noted the acts and popularity of Nicolas Sarkozy, Thilo Sarrazin, Geert Wilders, Barbara Rosenkranz and Silvio Berlusconi to conclude that something is seriously wrong with the political climate across Europe. Is xenophobia the political mainstream, accurately expressing what the European public thinks?



Eva Peña on Eva en Europa published a blog post in Catalan: França portada als tribunals per la UE? (14 September 2010). In an unprecedented move, commissioner Reding has confirmed the position of the European Commission as the guardian of the Treaties, which enshrine the free movement of all citizens of the European Union. She wonders why the government of president Nicolas Sarkozy has ignored the warnings.




The French Foreign Ministry (Quai d’Orsay) has never admitted the existence of the European Union, or at least its binding rules, says Mieux connaître vos droits en Europe (in French), but discusses much more in at least three detailed blog posts: Affaire ROM/France : Complément au billet précédent, another Affaire ROM/France and ... derniers episodes du feuilleton … (14 September 2010)



On the basis of an introduction by Colman, The European Tribune community discussed French government incomprehension at outside criticism of its targeted deportation of Roma migrants: Cry me a river. Try to resist herding immigrants into it. (14 September 2010). The tone was set by the remark “Imagine being criticised for exploiting racism for short-term political gain”, referring to the French Minister for Europe, Pierre Lellouche.

The discussion brought to light the contradiction between Silvio Berlusconi’s earlier exploits in Italy and the attention president Sarkozy’s government is getting for similar actions in France. During the discussion, the situation unfolded, from a first news alert to commissioner Reding’s statement.



A great day for Europe, says Desde Bruselas when Viviane Reding finally stated that the Commission had no alternative but to commence infringement procedures against France (in Spanish): Por fin! Parece que la comisión iniciará un proceso de infracción contra Francia (14 September 2010).



Kouchner?



I am not overly surprised by the populist law-and-order drive or the utter disregard for common European values and rules by the government of President Nicolas Sarkozy, but I wonder how Bernard Kouchner – known for his humanitarian and human rights work – can remain a member of that government, as its Minister of Foreign and European Affairs.




Ralf Grahn

Roma expulsions: France versus Europe

It was not like jumping a few red lights, but more like recklessly racing on the wrong side of the road, trying to bulldoze every approaching vehicle off the tarmac. The European commissioner for justice, Viviane Reding, was left with no choice. She finally issued a sharp statement on the French government’s targeted mass expulsion of Roma.



It is not as if the French authorities had not received warning on their muscular evictions, from the Commission, the European Parliament, EU member states, Europarties, mainstream media and EU citizens. You can look at the blog posts tagged France on Bloggingportal.eu. You can look at #Roma and other hashtags on Twitter.

The European Union is based on common values and rules. France, as one of the founding members should know – and behave accordingly – although some of the statements from the French government make me wonder at the depth of ignorance and the height of arrogance they have displayed.

I am happy to see how many French men and women have shown strong support for shared European values and adherence to our common rules. They bear no part of the shame.




Ralf Grahn

European Commission: Start by publishing Reding’s ‘communication revolution’ plan!

The information leaked to EurActiv remains the main basis for the public discussion about the communication ‘revolution’ planned by commissioner Viviane Reding for the European Commission, but the information is far from complete.



The College of commissioners has discussed Reding’s communication proposals on 1 to 2 September 2010, but we have seen no further information about how the plans were received or what the next steps are going to be.



How the Commission communicates = interacts with 501 million citizen-stakeholders is much more than a matter of internal organisation; it is a fundamental question, especially in the wake of the latest Eurobarometer poll of public opinion in the European Union.

More mundane matters than the Commission’s relationship with the citizens it has been appointed to serve are routinely discussed at length: published in press releases, highlighted in speeches, augmented by independent studies and stakeholder seminars, published for public consultations and later refined as policy proposals.

Tuesday morning 7 September 2010, the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, should use his first “state of the union address” to explain how the European Commission intends to start interacting with the citizens of the European Union in new and better ways, including full disclosure of its approach to communication.

Before any policy or administrative decisions are taken, a public consultation on Reding’s communication plan is an important first step to re-engage with civil society.

Naturally, a wise Commission would then take sensible advice on board.




Ralf Grahn




P.S. The purpose of the European Day of Languages on 26 September 2010 is to inspire you to learn a foreign language.



In this context the European Commission in the UK arranges a Day of Multilingual Blogging, as described by Antonia Mochan on the Euonym blog (Talking about the EU). The UK Representation is joined by the multilingual aggregator Bloggingportal.eu and individual Eurobloggers.



Besides being fun and enriching for your soul, languages are an important business, an advantage when you trade and crucial for landing EU jobs, Antonia tells her British compatriots. (The same goes for other EU countries.)



On the event page on Facebook, 122 European bloggers have already signed up to participate in the pan-European Day of Multilingual Blogging, and 109 may be attending. Join the event!

The Twitter hashtag is #babel.

Have you noticed the multilingual blog aggregator, where you can find the posts from blogs related to EU affairs?



It is called Bloggingportal.eu, and it has grown to collect the entries by 662 Euroblogs. You can access the page with all the new posts or the front page selection, subscribe to RSS feeds for all posts or editors’ choices (front page), and subscribe to the daily and weekly newsletter.

Reading foreign language Euroblogs offers you two benefits: You become better informed about European affairs and you have fun learning languages.



One example: Even without the Day of Multilingual Blogging, I practice multilingual blogging by occasional posts on my Finnish blog Eurooppaoikeus and my Swedish blog Grahnblawg, in addition to more frequent posting on Grahnlaw (in English).

Communicating Europe: Reding’s revolution

How is the European Union responding to public opinion and media trends?



Conducted during the triple crisis – financial sector, economy and eurozone - Eurobarometer 73, Public opinion in the European Union (First results) recorded sinking support for what the EU has actually achieved, but possibly clear acceptance of future EU level action to sort out the economic mess and to promote job creation.



Europeans keep migrating to lively, chaotic and interactive social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook.



European Commission

One part of what the European Union does as a whole is supplied by the European Commission, also in the area of communication.




EurActiv reports that the Commission plans communication ‘revolution’. Commissioner Viviane Reding, who is responsible for communication, wants to bring about a "culture shock" and genuine "revolution" of existing Brussels communication methods.

Reding’s plan includes structural change in a re-branding centred on President José Manuel Barroso, increased centralisation of public communications, a new organisational chart and a key reshuffle of top officials.

Reding aims for stronger centralisation in the delivery of messages, although flexibility will be allowed with regard to the forms.



Val Duchesse



Yesterday and today, the College of Commissioners is meeting informally in the Castle Val Duchesse (1 to 2 September 2010). In substance, the notice on the ‘EC College Seminar’ tells us that the Commissioners are going to discuss the Commission programme for the rest of 2010. The rest of the webpage is pure filling.

According to EurActiv, Reding’s plan was going to be discussed, but we do not know how much acclaim the strategy for Barroso’s stardom and henchmen is getting from the rest of the Commissioners, who are among the possible losers together with the online and social media pioneers.



Outside reactions

The drive towards personalisation, centralisation, old media favouritism and pet journalists has resulted in a few early reactions outside the lofty Berlaymont chambers and the cosy chateau milieu.

We may ask if the Reding plan has "the atmosphere of a better age", as in Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited.



Michael Malherbe on Lacomeuropéenne (Se former à la communication européenne) asked if it is correct to speak about a revolution: Faut il parler de « révolution » de la communication de l’UE comme Viviane Reding ?

Malherbe’s conclusion is that Reding offers a plan for a bygone age:

... une stratégie ante-web, oublieuse de l’intérêt d’un dialogue nourri avec les multiplicateurs d’opinion et de partenariats avec des relais institutionnels ou associatifs.

The Watts On blog dissects five false assumptions Reding’s plan rests on, in the entry: The Commission should be focussing on policies not personalities.

After undermining the foundations, “Watts” offers the following advice for a profound Commission rethink:

It needs to be more open, more focused on policy and delivery rather than personalities, more serious about tackling those ’causes’, more strategic in its approach to issues and, above all, more engaged in directly having a two way dialogue with the citizen.

In Rivoluzione d’autunno, Matizandrea has a hard time believing in a stunning revolution, asking ironically: Are they going to learn how to use SMS?



The Brussels Jungle pulls a virtual scoop on the Commission’s communication revolution by describing the Commission’s imaginative (and imaginary) plans for an animated TV series, in response to the virtual Citzalia world of the European Parliament. No prizes for guessing who the main characters – Redi and José – resemble in real life.


Sit up and take notice when those who wish the European Union well and ill seem to agree on the substance, even if not on the presentation.



In the spirit of the Albion Alliance, the Autonomous Mind blog describes the EU Commission plan as a vanity propaganda effort.



Next steps

My humble advice regarding the next steps:


What if the Commissioners in Val Duchesse started by locating the paper shredder and then decided to enter the fascinating world of 21st century communication?




Ralf Grahn



P.S. Comments relevant to the topic discussed in each Grahnlaw blog post are most welcome. However, the number of spam comments has skyrocketed. This is the sad reason for comment moderation, so it may take a while before your valued comment appears.

It is easier to understand a language than to use it correctly. As Eurobloggers we could and should promote interaction among Europeans across borders and between linguistic communities. Grahnlaw has adopted a multilingual comment policy:

I do my best to read comments in Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish or Swedish, even if the Grahnlaw blog and my possible replies are in English.

Reding and Malmström: Urgent & complete redesign of EU Commission website needed

When the new Barroso II Commission finally is allowed to start working, at least two Commissioners face the urgent task to update the web pages and step up the communication effort of their services. They are Viviane Reding (Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship) and Cecilia Malmström (Home Affairs).



For some inexplicable reason, we have seen that the current Directorate-General Justice, Freedom and Security would remain intact, although the European Union is getting a “justice minister” and an “interior minister”.

If true, this means that the two Commissioners will have to agree on the steps to take, but one thing is crystal clear. In these policy areas with a direct impact on EU citizens, something needs to be done – and quickly.



The briefest tour of the web pages of DG Justice, Freedom and Security makes it abundantly clear that the website has to be redesigned and updated. Currently this DG probably has the worst web presence among the Commission services.



If Director-General Jonathan Faull has been mentioned as the new chief of Internal Market and Services for Commissioner Michel Barnier, directing communications and web design cannot have been among the merits counted for the new job.




Ralf Grahn







P.S. Cross-border communication is a necessity in the European Union and beyond, with scrutiny by active citizens. At the same time Euroblogs are an agreeable way to brush up one’s skills in foreign languages.

While resolutely outside the European Union, Norway is part of the European Economic Area (EEA). Thus, EU has profound implications for Norway, and Norwegian opinions are of European interest.

Written by Norwegian journalists, Europabloggen.no (in Norwegian) bridges the communication gap between the EU and Norway.



Europabloggen.no is listed among 522 great Euroblogs (at the latest count) on growing multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, your useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs, i.a. politics, more than thirty policy areas, communication, economics, finance, business, civil society and law.

If you are interested in the EU or the euroblogosphere, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for new blog posts appearing on Bloggingportal.eu.

By the way, I also discuss European issues in Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg.