24-01-2007

Several hundreds representatives from all over Europe attended the conference organised by the vice president of the European Commission responsible for the communication strategy to discuss the ways the EU can improve its communication.

No European country can hope to meet today's challenges alone whether on globalisation, climate change, security of energy supplies, social justice or economic growth, said Margot Wallström. We therefore need a European decision-making system that is effective, simple and transparent. That is why we need an improved EU treaty... It must be a project which the citizens of Europe understand and in which they are actively involved. This can only come about if there is real communication between the people and the policy-makers, and between the people of the 27 EU countries themselves.

Margot Wallström emphasised the role local and regional government can play on this issue, stressing that each country must find its own way of ensuring that European issues are debated within the local and regional context. She added that it goes without saying that local and regional authorities will play the major role, working with their local and regional media, and with the offices of the Commission and the European Parliament in each country.