Since 5 January 2011 I have written a number of blog posts critical of the Hungarian presidency of the (other configurations of the) Council of the European Union. (You find the headlines in the right hand margin of the blog.)
Hope springs eternal, so am I able to find something positive to say in all honesty? Let us take a tour of the website of the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The website is available in four EU languages, the national language Hungarian, the most common second language English, the traditionally strong French and during this presidency also German. This is good news for about 90 million German speakers in the EU, the largest native language. At least with regard to front page level items, the different language versions seem to be more or less complete. (I am going to continue by looking at the English version.)
I do not find the layout beautiful, but it looks clear and functional. The front page offers various headlines and links to more detailed pages. The main options for navigation are News and events, Presidency, Contacts and Press. Further items and links are then on offer, both substance and people to contact.
Presidency programme
The presidency trio prepares an 18 month programme, but additionally each six month presidency publishes a work programme. The trio programme is more than a year old, and we live in volatile times. Especially towards the end of one and a half years, the need for an updated road map is obvious.
Since the readers of Grahnlaw tend to be interested in more serious stuff, we note that a few days ago the new programme was published:
The Programme of the Hungarian Presidency of the of the European Union 1 January – 30 June 2011: Strong Europe (about 56 pages)
(This is the first presidency programme I remember seeing with corporate sponsors.)
Update 18 January 2011: Gawain Towler on England Expects turned my discreet remark about corporate sponsorship for government activity into more colourful amazement: The EU Presidency, brought to you by Audi, VW... (17 January 2011).
RSS channels
You can visit the web pages or subscribe to a traditional weekly newsletter, but what I want to mention especially is the choice of eight RSS channels for information practically in real time. I had no problem loading the streams of my choice.
SMS and mobile alerts are available as well.
Social media
The social media page offers you access to six Twitter accounts, a fairly touristic fan page on Facebook and two presidency blogs in English.
Possible improvements
It is still early days with regard to real (formal) Council meetings, and I have only begun to use the presidency pages of Hungary, so my main suggestion is tentative with regard to the (technical) functionality.
Admittedly, the meeting for ministers and state secretaries for employment 16-18 January 2011 is informal, but the main advance offering is a timetable for journalists, without links to relevant documents or presentations of substantive issues.
Better than any Council presidency I remember, in 2009 Sweden managed to create meaningful thematic pages for each Council configuration, with ministerial statements and interviews before and after, agendas, supporting documents and other news items, as well as links to outside discussion.
Will the Hungarian EU Council presidency be able to create the same functionality, interactivity and feeling of unhindered discussion?
Ralf Grahn
P.S. Valéry-Xavier Lentz combines an engagement for Europe with valuable web skills, so his latest blog post concerns the new design of Taurillon.org. He is also active on Facebook and Twitter, mainly in French, but also in English. One to follow.
P.S. 2: Self-promotion: In addition to writing, I enjoy speaking engagements and invitations to teach EU law and politics in English, Finnish or Swedish, at home or abroad.
Showing posts with label presidency website. Show all posts
Showing posts with label presidency website. Show all posts
Monday, 17 January 2011
Saturday, 26 June 2010
Belgium’s EU Council presidency website: First impressions
Euroblogger Julien Frisch noted the fresh look of the website of the Council of the European Union, redesigned in a manner similar to the new web pages of the European Council. Julien liked the look, but essentially the navigability had not improved that much. I agree with his remarks:
Lacomeuropeenne.fr, officially Se former à la communication européenne, has analysed (in French) various aspects of how the EU institutions communicate. A few days ago, they assessed the European Commission’s Internet Providers Guide (IPG), the Internet handbook for webmasters, editors, content providers, web developers and contractors, as well as others who publish material on EU websites. After a detailed study, they concluded that there is a deep gap between the recommendations the Commission gives to officials and the advice of social media experts .
Two days ago, Lacomeuropeenne made a quick audit of the usability of new Council website. Despite some signs of progress, there were still confusing aspects and the experiences of users are needed for more definitive conclusions.
Both assessments noted the lack of interactive, user-friendly features.
Belgium’s presidency website
Outwardly the newly launched website of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union is like a sister or brother to the site of the European Council and the redesigned web pages of the Council.
It is clear, well ordered and pleasing to the eye.
A few days before the start of the Belgian presidency, on 1 July 2010, there is mainly basic material to test on, so user experiences will mainly have to be deferred.
A few impressions, though.
If you look, you are able to locate the 18 month programme and the Belgian six month programme.
In my opinion, the Swedish presidency had the best website to date, and they started to interact with users of social media and to monitor blogs. How about the Belgian presidency?
There is not much in the line of interactivity. A poll deep down on the front page asks:
I would not expect people to find the Belgian presidency pages without knowing what to look for, but potentially the polls can be used for less inane purposes.
It may be that I lack technical savvy, but I do not know why the EU institutions and presidencies insist on speaking about feed burners but fail to clearly tell us the actual feed URLs, especially ones that actually work.
Test for instance:
http://www.eutrio.be/media/feed ?
http://www.eutrio.be/rss ?
After a process of trial and error, I was finally able to find a feed for my blog.
Somewhere there was an oblique promise of a blog to come (with the potential for interactive use), but I failed to locate it when I visited the website again.
The page on Logo and guidelines fails to make a distinction between official use and use by others of different graphic designs, without wading through a detailed graphic charter or asking for permission.
I would imagine that the Belgian government (if there is one) would be pleased to see its banner all over the place, but public institutions almost always seem to be obsessed by potential abuse and to end up with less than clear and inviting policies.
Is a newspaper or a blogger allowed to use the banner (and other material) freely?
It would be simple to give a clear answer up front, without sending people off to chase wild geese. Now the difference between official and other use is quite unclear.
Only the coming six months will tell if the quality of information is going to improve under the Belgian presidency, after the obvious lapse during the Spanish semester.
I hope that Julien Frisch, Lacomeuropeenne and others more expert in web communications than I, offer their views and user experiences of the Belgian presidency pages. There are still six months to make improvements, if there is a need.
Naturally, it would also require the right kind of attitude.
Ralf Grahn
I want to click on the Agriculture Council and find all meeting documents, news, photos etc. (including the work of the Working Parties) available instead of having to search for them with a lot of efforts in the Council document register.
Speaking about the register that is linked under "Documents" in the main menu, I'd recommend that you don't need to click through four links until you actually can search for documents. Why not having a search right after clicking on "Documents"?
Lacomeuropeenne.fr, officially Se former à la communication européenne, has analysed (in French) various aspects of how the EU institutions communicate. A few days ago, they assessed the European Commission’s Internet Providers Guide (IPG), the Internet handbook for webmasters, editors, content providers, web developers and contractors, as well as others who publish material on EU websites. After a detailed study, they concluded that there is a deep gap between the recommendations the Commission gives to officials and the advice of social media experts .
Two days ago, Lacomeuropeenne made a quick audit of the usability of new Council website. Despite some signs of progress, there were still confusing aspects and the experiences of users are needed for more definitive conclusions.
Both assessments noted the lack of interactive, user-friendly features.
Belgium’s presidency website
Outwardly the newly launched website of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union is like a sister or brother to the site of the European Council and the redesigned web pages of the Council.
It is clear, well ordered and pleasing to the eye.
A few days before the start of the Belgian presidency, on 1 July 2010, there is mainly basic material to test on, so user experiences will mainly have to be deferred.
A few impressions, though.
If you look, you are able to locate the 18 month programme and the Belgian six month programme.
In my opinion, the Swedish presidency had the best website to date, and they started to interact with users of social media and to monitor blogs. How about the Belgian presidency?
There is not much in the line of interactivity. A poll deep down on the front page asks:
Did you know that Belgium was to take upon the rotating Presidency of the EU on the 1st of July?
I would not expect people to find the Belgian presidency pages without knowing what to look for, but potentially the polls can be used for less inane purposes.
It may be that I lack technical savvy, but I do not know why the EU institutions and presidencies insist on speaking about feed burners but fail to clearly tell us the actual feed URLs, especially ones that actually work.
Test for instance:
http://www.eutrio.be/media/feed ?
http://www.eutrio.be/rss ?
After a process of trial and error, I was finally able to find a feed for my blog.
Somewhere there was an oblique promise of a blog to come (with the potential for interactive use), but I failed to locate it when I visited the website again.
The page on Logo and guidelines fails to make a distinction between official use and use by others of different graphic designs, without wading through a detailed graphic charter or asking for permission.
I would imagine that the Belgian government (if there is one) would be pleased to see its banner all over the place, but public institutions almost always seem to be obsessed by potential abuse and to end up with less than clear and inviting policies.
Is a newspaper or a blogger allowed to use the banner (and other material) freely?
It would be simple to give a clear answer up front, without sending people off to chase wild geese. Now the difference between official and other use is quite unclear.
Only the coming six months will tell if the quality of information is going to improve under the Belgian presidency, after the obvious lapse during the Spanish semester.
I hope that Julien Frisch, Lacomeuropeenne and others more expert in web communications than I, offer their views and user experiences of the Belgian presidency pages. There are still six months to make improvements, if there is a need.
Naturally, it would also require the right kind of attitude.
Ralf Grahn
EU Council presidency primer - Belgium’s website launched
With less than a week to go to the beginning of July, Belgium yesterday launched the website of the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council.
This is primarily a primer or background note on matters relating to the Council presidency under the Lisbon Treaty.
Slimmer presidency
The presidency is still held on the basis of equal rotation (Article 16(9) TEU). If we want to be exact, it is not the presidency of the Council, but of Council configurations other than that of foreign affairs.
The Treaty of Lisbon has limited the scope of the presidency in two respects:
1) The European Council has a full time president (now Herman Van Rompuy), elected for two and a half years according to Article 15(5) TEU.
2) According to Article 18(3) TEU the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy (now Catherine Ashton) presides over the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC).
Presidency trio
According to Article 236(b) TFEU the European Council adopts by qualified majority a decision on the presidency of Council configurations, other than that of foreign affairs.
When the Lisbon Treaty entered into force, the European Council adopted such a decision:
EUROPEAN COUNCIL DECISION 2009/881/EU of 1 December 2009 on the exercise of the Presidency of the Council; OJEU 2.12.2009 L 315/50
Article 1 of the decision lays down the principles of presidency trios and a common programme, both intended to improve continuity (although in practice the system had been introduced earlier):
What still makes the presidency a big circus appears from the next provision.
The responsibility to chair the Council configurations is not limited to the formal meetings of ministers in the Council. According to Article 2, it entails chairing the (weekly) meetings of the ambassadors and their deputies (Coreper) as well as the preparatory bodies of various Council configurations (with the exception of the Political and Security Committee and expressly made exceptions).
The intended coordinating role of the General Affairs Council (GAC) is stated in Article 3.
Exercising the presidency
An implementing decision sheds more light on the order of the presidency trios until 2020, the chairing of the preparatory bodies of the FAC, and the chairing of the other Council preparatory bodies (fixed chairs):
COUNCIL DECISION 2009/908/EU of 1 December 2009 laying down measures for the implementation of the European Council Decision on the exercise of the Presidency of the Council, and on the chairmanship of preparatory bodies of the Council; OJEU 9.12.2009 L 322/28
Current presidency trio
Spain during the first half of 2010, soon Belgium from July to December and thereafter Hungary during the first six months of 2011. These EU member states constitute the current 18 month presidency trio responsible for chairing the Council of the European Union.
The 18 month programme of the Spanish, Belgian and Hungarian presidencies is still available.
Council work
More information on the work of the Council is found in the Rules of Procedure (see Annex), which have been adapted to the Lisbon Treaty:
COUNCIL DECISION 2009/937/EU of 1 December 2009 adopting the Council's Rules of Procedure (consolidated version)
Council configurations
Annexed to the Council’s Rules of Procedure, we find a list of Council configurations. Nine of them are expected to be chaired by the rotating presidency, but the trio can agree to share responsibilities:
1. General affairs;
2. Foreign affairs (chaired by the high representative);
3. Economic and financial affairs (including the EU budget);
4. Justice and home affairs (including civil protection);
5. Employment, social policy, health and consumer affairs;
6. Competitiveness (internal market, industry and research) (including tourism);
7. Transport, telecommunications and energy;
8. Agriculture and fisheries;
9. Environment;
10. Education, youth and culture (including audiovisual affairs).
List of preparatory bodies
The list of preparatory bodies (16 pages) published by the General secretariat offers additional information about the variety of areas where experts from the member states lay the groundwork for the formal Council meetings, which are only the tip of the iceberg:
List of Council preparatory bodies; Brussels, 11 February 2010, document 5869/1/10 REV 1
Belgium’s presidency programme
The programme of the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council (52 pages) offers an updated view of the EU Council’s work during the coming months.
News feed on Grahnlaw
Grahnlaw has added a news feed in the right hand margin. Scroll down until you find the headline www.eutrio.be
Ralf Grahn
This is primarily a primer or background note on matters relating to the Council presidency under the Lisbon Treaty.
Slimmer presidency
The presidency is still held on the basis of equal rotation (Article 16(9) TEU). If we want to be exact, it is not the presidency of the Council, but of Council configurations other than that of foreign affairs.
The Treaty of Lisbon has limited the scope of the presidency in two respects:
1) The European Council has a full time president (now Herman Van Rompuy), elected for two and a half years according to Article 15(5) TEU.
2) According to Article 18(3) TEU the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy (now Catherine Ashton) presides over the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC).
Presidency trio
According to Article 236(b) TFEU the European Council adopts by qualified majority a decision on the presidency of Council configurations, other than that of foreign affairs.
When the Lisbon Treaty entered into force, the European Council adopted such a decision:
EUROPEAN COUNCIL DECISION 2009/881/EU of 1 December 2009 on the exercise of the Presidency of the Council; OJEU 2.12.2009 L 315/50
Article 1 of the decision lays down the principles of presidency trios and a common programme, both intended to improve continuity (although in practice the system had been introduced earlier):
Article 1
1. The Presidency of the Council, with the exception of the Foreign Affairs configuration, shall be held by pre-established groups of three Member States for a period of 18 months. The groups shall be made up on a basis of equal rotation among the Member States, taking into account their diversity and geographical balance within the Union.
2. Each member of the group shall in turn chair for a six-month period all configurations of the Council, with the exception of the Foreign Affairs configuration. The other members of the group shall assist the Chair in all its responsibilities on the basis of a common programme. Members of the team may decide alternative arrangements among themselves.
What still makes the presidency a big circus appears from the next provision.
The responsibility to chair the Council configurations is not limited to the formal meetings of ministers in the Council. According to Article 2, it entails chairing the (weekly) meetings of the ambassadors and their deputies (Coreper) as well as the preparatory bodies of various Council configurations (with the exception of the Political and Security Committee and expressly made exceptions).
The intended coordinating role of the General Affairs Council (GAC) is stated in Article 3.
Exercising the presidency
An implementing decision sheds more light on the order of the presidency trios until 2020, the chairing of the preparatory bodies of the FAC, and the chairing of the other Council preparatory bodies (fixed chairs):
COUNCIL DECISION 2009/908/EU of 1 December 2009 laying down measures for the implementation of the European Council Decision on the exercise of the Presidency of the Council, and on the chairmanship of preparatory bodies of the Council; OJEU 9.12.2009 L 322/28
Current presidency trio
Spain during the first half of 2010, soon Belgium from July to December and thereafter Hungary during the first six months of 2011. These EU member states constitute the current 18 month presidency trio responsible for chairing the Council of the European Union.
The 18 month programme of the Spanish, Belgian and Hungarian presidencies is still available.
Council work
More information on the work of the Council is found in the Rules of Procedure (see Annex), which have been adapted to the Lisbon Treaty:
COUNCIL DECISION 2009/937/EU of 1 December 2009 adopting the Council's Rules of Procedure (consolidated version)
Council configurations
Annexed to the Council’s Rules of Procedure, we find a list of Council configurations. Nine of them are expected to be chaired by the rotating presidency, but the trio can agree to share responsibilities:
1. General affairs;
2. Foreign affairs (chaired by the high representative);
3. Economic and financial affairs (including the EU budget);
4. Justice and home affairs (including civil protection);
5. Employment, social policy, health and consumer affairs;
6. Competitiveness (internal market, industry and research) (including tourism);
7. Transport, telecommunications and energy;
8. Agriculture and fisheries;
9. Environment;
10. Education, youth and culture (including audiovisual affairs).
List of preparatory bodies
The list of preparatory bodies (16 pages) published by the General secretariat offers additional information about the variety of areas where experts from the member states lay the groundwork for the formal Council meetings, which are only the tip of the iceberg:
List of Council preparatory bodies; Brussels, 11 February 2010, document 5869/1/10 REV 1
Belgium’s presidency programme
The programme of the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council (52 pages) offers an updated view of the EU Council’s work during the coming months.
News feed on Grahnlaw
Grahnlaw has added a news feed in the right hand margin. Scroll down until you find the headline www.eutrio.be
Ralf Grahn
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