EU Council communications: quick response

The informal Euro Group did not make it to the front page Council news by Tuesday morning, but the press staff quickly published two visible items in prime place, at the top. The text leads you to a summary with useful links (although it could have linked to Regling's EFSF document as well), and the video recording offers you a short version of the press conference.

I salute the swift and constructive response(s) from the Council staff. Dear reader, If you have ideas for improvement, you can write a comment to the blog post.



Ralf Grahn

EU Council communications: Heard of the eurozone?

Is it irony, or what? We are in the middle of a crisis of some proportions in the eurozone (population 332 million). There are widespread fears that the euro house of cards might crash in a near future if the assembly line of ”comprehensive solutions” continues to provide too little, too late.

We also know that the finance ministers in the Euro Group met yesterday evening. However, when I arrive at the web page of the Council of the European Union very early in the morning, the latest news on offer are statements from the high representative Catherine Ashton about Northern Nigeria, Liberia, Syria, Japan, Israel and Japan – all worthy matters, of course.

If we click for more news, we have to go back to 1 November 2011 to find two joint press releases addressing economic issues. A week ago EUCO president Herman Van Rompuy and Commission president José Manuel Barroso jointly commented on the (then) latest developments in the eurozone, and they informed us about their upcoming trip to the EU-US summit in Washington DC at the end of the month.

I know that the Euro Group is an informal gathering, not a proper Council configuration, but some sense of priorities, responsiveness and flexibility would be appreciated.


Euro Group press conference

There does not seem to be even a scrap of paper for the public from the Euro Group meeting. You need to know what to look for, because the chairman Jean-Claude Juncker held a press conference (recorded, including questions and answers 35:33), together with the Commission vice-president Olli Rehn and the EFSF chief executive officer Klaus Regling, although most of their introductory comments were obviously read from papers. However, Regling repeatedly referred to an EFSF paper made available to journalists.



Ralf Grahn

Euroblogs debating Euroblogosphere: Navel-gazing? Professionalism?

With the help of the Twitter discussion under the hashtag #bbs10 (now seven plus pages), let us track the discussion in and about the Euroblogosphere following the Waggener Edstrom Brussels Blogger Study 2010. In addition to the blog entries, remember to read the interesting comments, a sign of an emerging Eurosphere.





Jon Worth invited himself to the launch event, and he seems to have been the first Euroblogger to comment. Jon found the top ten list odd, with Charlemagne (only) in 11th place and Nosemonkey ranked 20th. He offered a link to the report, which was not on the Waggener Edstrom website (but the link did not open the document for me, using Google Chrome).



Even if not downloadable on the Waggener Edstrom website (despite WE comments to that effect), you can request a copy of the Brussels Blogger Study 2010 from the consultancy, by using the link in the first comment.

The EU-Brussels bubble has some way to go before understanding the impact of blogs it seems, concluded Jon, who also linked to the Twitter discussion under the hash tag #bbs10.



Independent bloggers writing about EU policy are nipping at the heels of their big media rivals, according to a survey on the EU's English-language blogosphere, was the main conclusion of EurActiv.



BlogActiv director Stuart Langridge noted the importance of Blogactiv.eu and Bloggingportal.eu for the EU blogosphere, and he rejoiced that nine of the forty most influential blogs were hosted on BlogActiv.



The interview with John Jolliffe of Waggener Edstrom adds a few reflections on the nature of the study.



EurActiv publisher Christophe Leclercq on the EuRoman blog opined that EU online media are at their best when they build on a national debate. He trumpeted EurActiv and BlogActiv, but he criticised the study for being confined to blogs in English only, and for non-clickable blog names.



Online communications specialist Mathew Lowry underlined the importance of doing something for progress, rather than criticising those who act. Despite English-only blogs, narrow Brussels focus and a very debatable ranking of blogs, the report was a step on the way towards more and better analyses of EU social media by more people.



The new quality Euroblog Eurogoblin.eu did not pull his punches in an entry asking: How did Waggener Edstrom get it so Wrong? Arbitrary criteria and then failing to adhere to them started a detailed dressing down of the report, including the lack of blogs in other languages than English.

Eurogoblin.eu set off a lively blogger discussion, with commentators pointing out the differences between the US and EU political blog scenes, as well as the absence of female Eurobloggers and anti-EU blogs.



Quality blogger the European Citizen modestly doubted his influence on other Eurobloggers and the Brussels Bubble. Conor Slowey referred to a number of other Euroblog comments, and he recalled the importance of Bloggingportal.eu finding and promoting blogs.



Europasionaria noticed movement among French Euroblogs and she expressed the belief that politicising Europe is a requirement for making it more interesting. But Euroblogs could also deal with other issues in order to appeal to a wider public.



Martin on Europaeum evoked the importance of Bloggingportal.eu , which aggregates more than 600 Euroblogs. He then proposed a new Twitter tag to present new Euroblogs: #bkae (for “better know a euroblog”), a proposal which received favourable reactions.



Rose22joh on Bit more complicated referred to both the study and the following discussion before adding that US methodology and comparison may have distorted the outcome. She underlined the variety and amateurism of much Euroblogging, the absence of EU girl geeks, and the importance of Twitter as a forum for discussion.



Breaking through the English-only study criteria, Michael Malherbe on Lacomeuropéenne continued his professional analysis on EU communications with a critical comment on the Waggener Edstrom study, but he also presented Fleishman-Hillard’s Netvibes pages on Euroblogs according to categories: FH’s selection, Journalists, Citizens, EU officials, Commissioners, MEPs, Corporate, and Collective (introduction here).



Fleishman-Hillard’s Public Affairs 2.0 blog had previously discussed the absence of influential and professional policy bloggers in Brussels, and this was one of the main findings of the Waggener Edstrom report as well.



My own initial comments on the Waggener Edstrom report and the Fleishman-Hillard Netvibes pages were posted yesterday.


Know thyself

A discussion about Euroblogging among Eurobloggers is self-referential, but it is no sin. Know thyself is a recipe for learning.



The European social media scene, including the Euroblogosphere, is still in its infancy, but growing rapidly. Bloggingportal.eu now aggregates more than twice the number of blogs (628) it did a year and a half ago.

In a natural way, growth leads to coverage of more policy areas and variety of views being expressed, including national angles on EU issues.

Both Fleishman-Hillard and Waggener Edstrom have, however, highlighted the relative absence of influential and professional Eurobloggers on (more focused) policy issues.

The public affairs consultancies have a natural interest to generate client interest in EU social media, but this does not mean that they are wrong.

Companies and business associations, Europarties and their foundations, think tanks, as well as “organised” civil society (NGOs) have a golden opportunity to start building credibility through blogs and other social media in order to advance their long term interests, outside the traditional channels of quiet lobbying.

However, turning on the volume and utilising more channels to reach a wider audience are not enough. Without credibility and interaction, megaphone politics turn off viewers and listeners.

The emergence of professionalism and lucrative interests are no hindrance to the continued appearance of engaged citizen bloggers, on the contrary. Independent minds and outspoken persons are needed even more than before, in order to keep the deference factor in check.




Ralf Grahn

EU materials: House of Lords and Sweden

Legal acts of the European Union are not always from the master class of clarity. Especially first time readers often have a hard time understanding the meaning. There is a need for explanation and clarification, as well as evaluation outside the partly opaque processes leading to EU legislation.

Where to find help?




House of Lords



In the United Kingdom, we have the European Union Committee of the House of Lords, producing thoughtful reports on EU issues, evaluating important policy areas. But the patchy participation of Britain in EU activities influences the choice of subjects, and it affects the reasoning to a degree.

Where a fresh report of the HL European Union Committee exists, it is usually a valuable source for understanding the subject matter.




Sweden




Sweden is an EU member state somewhat more in line with the EU mainstream (exceptions: euro currency and NATO membership).

The Swedish government’s web design is exemplary. You can easily find the subject matters, and you can advance from web pages with brief information to detailed documents without a hitch.



You can access the document search for all types of publications from the front page, and the search function actually works (which cannot be said about many government or EU websites).

Sweden has a tradition of thorough preparation of legislation, including matters related to the European Union. Each step on the way is documented and accessible, from committee directives to updated legal acts.

Sweden has invested a lot of effort to make public communications, including official documents, clear and readable (“klarspråk”).


Without changing the intrinsic nature of the European Union, Sweden managed to set the gold standard for EU Council communications during its presidency, including the design of its website and the use of social media.


The main limit to the wider use of Swedish EU and general legal materials is the language. There are about 20 million native speakers of Swedish, Norwegian and Danish, able to read information in Swedish.

But it should not stop the European Union and member state governments from emulating and improving on Swedish style communications.




Ralf Grahn

Report on Sweden’s EU Council Presidency

The Swedish government has published a report on its presidency of the Council of the European Union during the second half of 2009 (in Swedish):



Regeringens skrivelse 2009/10:174 Redogörelse för det svenska ordförandeskapet i Europeiska unionens råd andra halvåret 2009 (31 March 2010; 69 pages).

This special report describes how the Swedish government prepared for the presidency and how it was put into practice. The main achievements are noted, as well as the costs.

Even if Sweden handled the last EU Council presidency under the old Nice Treaty rules, the report is valuable for future presidencies and students of EU politics. For instance, the text on Sweden’s successful web communications is worth noting.




General Reports



With pictures, charts and graphic design, the European Commission’s General Report on the Activities of the European Union 2009 has become shorter and lighter than its predecessors (132 pages), and the monthly Bulletin has been discontinued.

There are, of course, a plethora of special reports and news pages, but for a comprehensive view of the main events in the European Union, few beat the traditional annual general report of the Swedish government:



Regeringens skrivelse 2009/10:150 Berättelse om verksamheten i Europeiska unionen under 2009 (410 pages).

The Swedish annual report has become an even more valuable resource for those who know enough of a Nordic language to be able to read Swedish.



Ralf Grahn

Where are the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)?

In a blog post Wednesday 30 September 2009 I noted that the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) political group in the European Parliament seems to have no web site accessible from the EP’s start page, almost four months after the European elections.



Jon Worth has turned up with the same result with regard to the ECR Group (2 October 2009) after some web search of his own.

***

As I noted, the same lack of existence haunts the political group of Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD).

I checked again on the EP’s home page a few moments ago. Neither the ECR nor the EFD link leads anywhere.

These anti-EU and Europhobe groups have had time and they have enough resources to produce at least some web presence in the European Parliament, so the reasons must lie elsewhere.

Are they that incompetent?

Are their hard nationalistic platforms mutually exclusive?

Are they convinced of their irrelevance in European politics?

Do they find their supporters that undeserving of communications about their efforts in the European Union?


Their ideas may belong in the XIX century, but does it have to comprise their web presence?


Ralf Grahn

Re: Europa and Julien Frisch: EU transparency now!

Is there no European public sphere? If that is your belief, you don’t believe in the existence of Steve Peers, RZ or Julien Frisch (and a growing number of engaged EU citizens, researchers and NGOs).

***

I was happy to see that Euroblogger RZ on Re: Europa wrote a post on the Statewatch proposals for improved openness, transparency and democracy in the European Union, prepared by Professor Steve Peers of the University of Essex.

The article ‘Towards a more perfect Union’ indicated the main thrust of the proposals, and called the document brilliant:

http://reeuropa.blogspot.com/2008/10/towards-more-perfect-union.html

***

Julien Frisch, another Euroblogger with an EU citizens’ perspective, also wrote a post on the same theme ‘More transparency in the Council of the European Union!’, calling for immediate reforms:

http://julienfrisch.blogspot.com/2008/10/more-transparency-in-council-of.html

***

Steve Peers and Statewatch make proposals for EU openness, transparency and democracy in two draft documents:

1) Declaration of the European Council on enhancing the openness, transparency and democracy of the activities of the European Union (Annex I)

2) Inter-Institutional Agreement On enhancing public access to documents and citizens’ participation in decision-making as regards the co-decision procedure (Annex II)

Together with the introductory explanations, they form the ‘Statewatch analysis: Proposals for greater openness, transparency and democracy in the EU’, by Professor Steve Peers, University of Essex (October 2008).

The brilliance of the proposals lies in that they can be implemented now, regardless of the Lisbon Treaty. They represent small, but concrete steps towards a better union.

This important document is available at:

http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/proposals-for-greater-openness-peers-08.pdf

***

Even before a democratic European Union is established, a number of improvements are possible, if the political will is there.

Essential reading for heads of state or government ─ and for other EU citizens.

“Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together.” (Edmund Burke)

***

No number of inter-institutional agreements on better communications or communications campaigns is going to legitimise the European project without real reform ─ big and small ─ of structures and content. As long as our leaders fail to embrace democratic reform, their project plays into the hands of populist and anti-reformist movements everywhere.

The European Union needs two things: Real power, where it matters. Real democracy, where the matters belong.

It is time for the European Council to re-found the European Union.




Ralf Grahn