Activites

• 2009/01/20 Final act published in Official Journal
• 2008/10/15 End of procedure in Parliament
• #2896
• 2008/10/13 Council Meeting
• 2008/10/13 Act adopted by Council after consultation of Parliament
• 2008/10/09 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T6-0463/2008 summary

    The European Parliament adopted by 493 votes to 48, with 30 abstentions, a European Parliament decision on the approval of the joint declaration on “Communicating Europe in Partnership”.The own-initiative report had been tabled for consideration in plenary by Jo LEINEN (PES, DE) on behalf of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs.The resolution emphasises that communication is an important element of both representative and participatory democracy. The experience gained from past European elections and referendums suggests that those who are aware of, and interested in, EU issues are more likely to participate, while those who are not as well informed are less likely to do so. This was once again confirmed by research done following the Irish referendum.Convinced that communicating on the European Union requires the political commitment of EU Institutions and Member States at all levels, the European Parliament approves the joint declaration on Communicating Europe in Partnership annexed to this decision and decides to annex the declaration to its Rules of Procedure. It calls for the declaration to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.The European Parliament, Council and the European Commission attach the utmost importance to improving communication on EU issues in order to enable European citizens to exercise their right to participate in the democratic life of the Union, in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizens, observing the principles of pluralism, participation, openness and transparency.The three Institutions wish to encourage the convergence of views on the communication priorities of the European Union as a whole, to promote the added value of an EU approach to communication on European issues, to facilitate exchanges of information and best practices and develop synergies between the Institutions when carrying out communication relating to these priorities, as well as to facilitate cooperation among the Institutions and Member States where appropriate.The three Institutions believe that information and communication activities on European issues should give everyone access to fair and diverse information about the European Union and enable citizens to exercise their right to express their views and to participate actively in the public debate on European Union issues. The three Institutions promote the respect of multilingualism and cultural diversity when implementing information and communication actions.

• 2008/10/07 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A6-0372/2008
• 2008/09/25 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• #2864
• 2008/04/29 Council Meeting
• 2007/10/03 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(2007)0569 summary

    PURPOSE: to present a proposal for an Inter-institutional Agreement on Communicating Europe in Partnership.CONTENT: three of the key EU institutions namely, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission have agreed to common objectives on communicating European issues to a wider audience. The main objectives of the Agreement are:to give everyone access to fair and diverse information on the EU;to enable everyone to exercise their right to express their views and to participate actively in the public debate on European issues.The Agreement specifies that all EU public actors are responsible for pursing these objectives, observing the principles of inclusiveness and pluralism, participation and empowerment, openness and transparency. The Agreements seeks to highlight the need for, and the added value of, better coordination in the way the EU institutions and bodies communicate on EU issues. To that end it provides a framework for coordinated action.While recognising that participation in the process is entirely voluntary, the three Institutions encourage all Member States to participate actively. The three institutions also recognise the leading role of the Inter-Institutional Group on Information (IGI) in coordinating the communication of EU issues. The IGI will have the following tasks:to define broad guidelines for coordinated communication on EU issues;to select annual EU communication priorities based on a proposal from the Commission;to adopt the annual common work plan on communication activities, based on actions proposed by each of the institutions; andto monitor the implementation and follow-up of the annual common work plan.In order to communicate effectively, the three institutions encourage each Member State to nominate a high-level contact person as “national communication director” on matters relating to communication on EU issues. The three Institutions agree to organise, at least twice per year, meetings of all national communication directors in order to share information and disseminate best practices, thereby encouraging and supporting the involvement of the Member States in communicating on EU issues. An electronic EU Information Network (EU-Infonet) will be developed in order to facilitate the permanent monitoring of communication on EU issues. Results will be assessed annually by the IGI as well as the three institutions. This debate will take place in the European Parliament.The functioning of the Inter-institutional Agreement will be reviewed at the beginning of the term of office of the incoming Commission and Parliament.

  • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/communication/', 'title': 'Communication'}, WALLSTRÖM Margot

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2007)0569
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A6-0372/2008
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T6-0463/2008

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)