EU Institutions and Citizens. How Does the Past Lack of Communication Affect the Present?
EU Institutions and Citizens. How Does the Past Lack of Communication Affect the Present?

Author(s): Sena Marić
Subject(s): Civil Society, EU-Accession / EU-DEvelopment
Published by: Centar za Evropske Politike CEP
Summary/Abstract: What would have been the outcome of the recent Greek referendum if the European Union had engaged in a "yes" campaign? If the French and Dutch citizens had not rejected the Constitutional Treaty 10 years ago, how would the European Union look today? Or, what would the present situation look like if an open debate had been set up, focusing on the changing demographic picture of Europe, inability to stop immi-gration, and the ways in which the EU can act in relation to these issues? As it may be, if the European Commission had invested more in public relations and communication with European citizens over the past two decades, we would be living in a different Europe. It is indeed surprising that, despite the widely recognized problem of European citizens’ alienation from the EU institutions and unawareness of the basic information regarding the functioning of this community, there has been no unified and coherent EU communication policy. This text is pointed out by extensive public opinion polls biannually conducted by the Eurobarometer. They revealed that the trust of EU citizens in European institutions and the EU has been continually decreasing from 2007 to the present date.

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