EU bid to close gap with citizens

Wallstrom called on citizens to send in their views

The European Commission has unveiled a communications strategy to raise the EU's profile and improve its image.

The White Paper calls on member states and local authorities to help close the gap with citizens, and says the EU will start listening to the public more.

The Commission dismissed claims that the policy would lead to schoolchildren studying the intricacies of the CAP.

Proposals for a teacher's college, an EU news agency and a journalists' code of conduct were dropped from the text.

It is the responsibility of government, at national, regional and local level, to consult and inform citizens about public policy White Paper on European Communication Policy (224K)

Commission Vice-President Margot Wallstrom asked members of the public to help shape a possible European Charter or Code of Conduct on Communication by sending their views to a special White Paper website.

The document - one of a series of initiatives designed to overcome citizens' alienation from Brussels - says the EU needs decentralised "citizen-centred" communications based on dialogue between people and policymakers.

Civic education

"It is the responsibility of government, at national, regional and local level, to consult and inform citizens about public policy - including European policies and their impact on people's daily lives - and to put in place the forums to give this debate life," it says.

Our children should be learning to read and write at school, not studying the ins and outs of the Common Agricultural Policy Timothy Kirkhope MEP

The leader of British Conservatives in the European Parliament, Timothy Kirkhope, said the White Paper could lead to lessons about EU history and institutions becoming part of the school curriculum.

"Our children should be learning to read and write at school, not studying the ins and outs of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)," he said.

But a Commission spokesman said it was up to member states what they taught in schools.

He said the White Paper was more concerned to ensure that adults had the tools they needed to access information on public policy and to exercise their rights.

'Brussels broadcasting'

The Commission had originally envisaged that journalists might sign up to the proposed voluntary code of conduct, one of whose aims would be to ensure that EU citizens' received a regular supply of factual information about European Union affairs.

However, the final version of the White Paper does not pursue this idea.

Nor does it mention an earlier idea for an EU news agency, dubbed the "Brussels Broadcasting Corporation" in some quarters.

A proposal for a teachers' college is replaced by a weaker suggestion that "member States could be invited to explore the best ways to bring together European teachers... with a view to exchanging ideas on innovative approaches to civic education".