To improve dialogue with citizens and local stakeholders, the Committee of the Regions has launched a new local communication strategy and has become involved in three citizens' debates, taking place at the initiative of PES member Christophe Rouillon, Mayor of Coulaines (France) and Vice-President of the Association of French Mayors responsible for Europe, in Chinon on 29 March, in Paris on 4 April and in Rouillon on 3 May. In this interview, Christophe Rouillon, who has been the CoR rapporteur on "Reconnecting Europe with its citizens: more and better communication at local level", tells us more about the initiative.
Why did you launch the "Reconnecting Europe with its citizens" initiative?
The rise in Eurosceptic opinion, the historically high rate of voter abstention at the last European poll, the election of more than 100 anti-EU members to the European Parliament – all this called for a response from us. While Europe is the solution, it has also become a source of worry and a punch bag for nationalists and populists. Today the European project is clearly at risk. Dialogue is urgently needed to reconnect Europe with its citizens.
What are your objectives?
We want to let 500 million European citizens have their say in open and online debates, so that they can voice their expectations and their concerns in relation to current events in Europe. This was the objective of the Committee of the Regions opinion adopted in late 2014 for which I was rapporteur. The challenge is to prepare for the 2019 European elections and to bring Europe closer to its citizens so that everybody becomes aware that their vote counts in Europe. We want to talk about Europe, to stimulate a debate about European integration and to actually demonstrate the positive impact of EU action. The purpose of these debates is to go out and meet citizens, many of whom are far away from the decision-making centres in Paris or Brussels, and to hear their ideas on subjects such as employment, the TTIP negotiations, digitalisation, reception of refugees, radicalisation and the crisis in agriculture.
When are the first meetings?
An initial dialogue has already taken place with the pupils of the François Rabelais grammar school in Chinon on the subject of Energy transition. On Monday 4 April European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici spoke to Parisians at the Europe Direct information centre for Île-de-France. A next dialogue will take place in Rouillon on 3 May. All these events have been supported by the European Committee of the Regions.
Between now and October ten further citizens' dialogue events are planned across France – in Grande Synthe, Arbois, Beaumesnil, Cognac, Saint-Malo, Valence, Nancy, La Grande-Motte, Nice and Bastia – in partnership with the Europe Direct network, the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Association of French Mayors. These will be publicised on social media under #ParlonsEurope and #EUlocal.
I am counting on members of the European Committee of the Regions to act as ambassadors for the EU at local level. Together we can help to reconnect Europe with its citizens by organising 500 local events in the 28 EU countries over the next five years.
The Committee of the Regions currently supports and takes part in local events organised in the Member States on the initiative of one or more Committee members or EU local and regional authorities and their national associations, in partnership with the EU institutions and their national offices, i.e. the information offices of the European Parliament (EPIOs), the Commission representations, and the official EU information networks (e.g. Europe Direct information centres).
