Brussels, 29 September 2020
WK 9907/2020 INIT
LIMITE
API
INF
WORKING PAPER
This is a paper intended for a specific community of recipients. Handling and
further distribution are under the sole responsibility of community members.
WORKING DOCUMENT
From:
General Secretariat of the Council
To:
Working Party on Information
Working Party on Information (Communication - Information Policy)
Working Party on Information (Communication - Titulaires)
Subject:
Cooperation between EC Representations and national authorities to communicate
EU action related to COVID-19 - European Commission discussion paper
Delegations will find attached a discussion paper from the European Commission on the Cooperation
between EC Representations and national authorities to communicate EU action related to COVID-19
to be discussed under item 2c) of the agenda at the meeting of the Working Party on Information on 1
October 2020.
WK 9907/2020 INIT
LIMITE
EN
Cooperation between EC Representations and national authorities to communicate EU action
related to COVID-19
-
EC discussion paper for WPI meeting in October –
Overal message
There is a clear win-win if we join forces in EU communication
What are success criteria for joint communication?
- A spirit of joint responsibility – whatever the format of cooperation, it is important that
there is a genuine intention and commitment to achieve better results together. The
involvement of political-level personalities can be very beneficial.
- A strategic dimension – cooperation should go beyond ad-hoc activities and include joint
planning at mid- and long term, the aim being to influence national debates and have an
impact on public opinion.
- A pragmatic approach – there should be regular exchange in the most appropriate format,
reflecting a reliable partnership of equals where al parties share the burden. Sufficient
preparations, appropriate resources and right timing of a project contribute significantly to
its success.
Questions:
- How can we enhance work on common ground?
- How can we expand cooperation to the regional level?
- How can we join forces for media outreach?
- Do we consider youth and schools as an important audience in this framework?
Examples il ustrating successful cooperation:
AUSTRIA: an excel ent strategic cooperation which has
worked both in long-term and on an ad-hoc basis by
providing al partners a framework to strengthen contacts at
local level and gain significant reach.
The
municipalities network (over 1100 municipalities) has
been used over 8 years to disseminate EU information at a
local level in the framework of a Memorandum of
Understanding with the Representation, EPLO, the
Association of Municipalities and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The network was particularly important
at the beginning of the COVID-19-lockdown to address and
correct the sceptical public opinion regarding the EU and played a key role to raise awareness amongst the population about the role of the
Commission and the EU institutions in relation to the COVID-pandemic. EU councillors of involved
municipalities volunteered to become reference points of EU related questions in their constituencies,
writing articles and organizing debates.
Triggered by the COVID-19 circumstances, the Representation,
together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and EPLO started offering to the network
online interactive
1
chats, each time with a different focus (e.g. EU COVID-19 related measures, EU neighbourhood policy,
etc). The live chats are complemented by monthly newsletters to the whole network enabling a smooth
and regular information flow on key topics (e.g. Next Generation EU, recovery plan, EU Europe Day
activities etc).
Picture: fifth annual general meeting of the network.
SWEDEN: an ad hoc cooperation with good reach, which can be replicated in other Member States.
Such cooperation ensures better visibility and wider endorsement for both partners.
In spring and summer 2020 the Representation, in cooperation with the EU Affairs Ministry, organised
weekly
digital seminars with a focus on the topics relevant in the Corona crisis context (themes included
rule of law, green recovery, disinformation) often
broadcasted by the Swedish National TV.
70 000
people were watching the events, which were of mutual interest. Facebook questions in advance were
used for ensuring interactivity: e.g. the Europe Day webinar “EU, the corona-crisis and the future”,
featured both Commissioner Johansson, previous Commissioners Malmström and Wallström as well as
the Minister for EU Affairs Hans Dahlgren; it a reach of more than 10 000 people on Facebook.
SLOVENIA: an ad hoc cooperation with good reach, which can be replicated in other Member States.
High-level personalities and partnership with media were key success elements.
The Representation invited
Ministers or State secretaries as speakers at four on-line debates on EU
and corona-virus, held between April and June. The participating government services readily promoted
the events as well. The debates were a chance for them to explain government measures and exchange
with other stakeholders, such as the civil society, trade union, and the media. The debates were
particularly important to
explain the recovery package and provide a broader EU perspective to
various topics. The participation of Executive Vice-President Vestager, Commissioner Lenarčič and
former Commissioner Potočnik also helped to draw public interest.
A media partnership with the
Slovene press agency and extensive promotion on social media also meant more
public outreach and
visibility for al partners. The webinars wil continue in the autumn, also in co-operation between the
Representation and government services.
FRANCE: a long-term partnership with the Representation, national and local authorities as wel as
associations to organise jointly Europe Day and coordinate EU communication throughout the
year. Partners gain from higher visibility, mutual endorsement and bringing in different
perspectives.
For this year’s Europe Day celebrations, the Representation teamed up with the long-standing
partner France 24 and the French EPLO to organise a
televised Citizens’ Dialogue involving
Commissioner Thierry Breton, French Secretary of State for European Affairs Amélie de
Montchalin and French MEP Yannick Jadot (Greens/EFA Al iance). This event reached a wide, global
audience: the program was broadcasted in French and international media (France 24 TV channel,
RFI radio and France info TV channel) which are particularly popular in francophone countries
around the world and allowed to
promote EU action in the framework of COVID-19.
2
ITALY: a long-term cooperation on reaching out to students
via Skuola.net, the biggest on-line one-stop shop for
students in Italy. Partners (The Department for Cohesion
Policies of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the
Representation and EPLO) gain from higher visibility and
mutual endorsement.
On 7 May they co-organised a live chat for school students
together with, covering inter alia
Green Recovery. The event
was webstreamed on Skuola.net. Schools participating in
the OpenCohesionSchool project, schools participating in
the European Parliament Ambassador School Programme, as well as schools using the platform
Europa=Noi managed by the Italian government took part in it and asked questions to 6 Italian MEPs,
including on EU response to coronavirus. The
live chat had an
excellent outreach: a total of 803.352
views on Skuola.net/tv and almost 60.000 views on Facebook and Youtube from 7 May until 11 May +
more than 21.000 pageviews for a native teaser on the chat published on 6 May. The event had an
enormous visibility as it was inter alia
covered by TG3 TV news -, and gave
a positive signal in a very
difficult moment for the government, for Europe and for schools.
LITHUANIA: An ad hoc cooperation between the Prime Minister's Office and the Representation
al owed for more and broader messages to transcend the national actions and show to the audience a
broader picture of what the EU is doing to tackle COVID-19.
The Head of Representation took part in two
daily press conferences on COVID-19 response, upon
invitation of the Prime Minister's Office to give a broader picture of the action taken at the EU level. The
daily press conferences on COVID-19 response were livestreamed on major LT news portals, which
al owed to ensure nationwide reach of the audience and also resulted in a number of articles quoting
the responses of the Head of Representation. In addition, the Representation frequently participated in
the meetings of the Governmental EU Commission, Tripartite Council.
As the PM Office wished to present not only Government’s actions in responding to the pandemic and
statistics, but also the actions and support provided by the EU, they invited the Head of Representation
to present the EU response. The
success of cooperation and partnership can be attributed to constant
cooperation between the Representation and the Prime Minister’s Office.
3
Document Outline
