EU faces 'massive' challenge selling itself

The EU faces a “massive” challenge selling itself to an often sceptical public, a conference at the commission was told.

The two-day event was largely designed to find ways in which the EU can more effectively communicate how it distributes regional funds throughout Europe.

One of the keynote speakers, Richard Holmes, told participants that, generally, the EU faces a “massive” challenge communicating its message.

He said, “It’s a huge task but one which can be achieved, if done in the right way.

“One area of improvement is the language the EU uses. We should be using less ‘EU jargon’ and speak in simple terms about what the EU is doing. Too often, EU communications look as though they have been written by a robot.”

Holmes manages an EU-funded scheme in the UK region of South Yorkshire and organises training courses for colleagues doing similar work.

He reminded participants that, from this year, member states and regions will be obliged to publish all projects co-financed by EU cohesion funds and the amounts received.

Holmes told the conference, “Cohesion policy represents over a third of the EU budget and impacts directly on the lives of all Europe’s citizens. But do they know about it?”

“When it comes to ‘communicating Europe’ there is no magic wand. We have all just got to work at it but, winning over the public, particularly in countries like the UK, will take years.”

Speaking at the same event, Eddy Hartog, of the commission’s regional directorate, called for “carefully targeted” communications campaigns.

“There are a lot of positive things happening out there, such as SMEs growing and volunteers finding work, as a direct result of EU regional funding.

“But the challenge, clearly, is to get this message across more effectively.”

The event, called “Telling the story. Communicating cohesion policy together”, was held at the executive’s Charlemagne building.

It attracted more than 450 media and public relations representatives from all over Europe and concludes on Tuesday.

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