EN    EN EN 
 
EN    EN  EUROPEAN COMMISSION 
Brussels, 18.6.2010 
SEC(2010) 727 final 
  
COMMUNICATION TO THE COMMISSION 
concerning the opening of an Antenna of the Commission Representation in Poland 
 
 
 
EN 2   EN COMMUNICATION TO THE COMMISSION 
concerning the opening of an Antenna of the Commission Representation in Poland 
Presented by Vice-President V. Reding, in agreement with President J.M. Barroso 
Introduction 
In the framework of the political declaration "Communicating Europe in  Partnership" signed 
on 22 October 2008 by the Commission, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament, the Commission has reinforced  its communication ac tivities by providing 
information and engaging in debate and discu ssion with citizens in national, regional and 
local contexts, thus promoting active Euro pean citizenship and contributing to the 
development of a European public sphere. Th erefore communicating at regional and local 
level is essential for involving citizens in th is European debate. In this context the 
Commission Representations in Member States are playing a key role in the communication 
efforts of the Commission. They are a prime outlet for information and communication with 
general public at large a nd media, especially at regional and local level. They are – together 
with the Europe Direct Network - the main in terlocutors for citizens on EU affairs "on the 
ground" in the Commission efforts to tailor messa ges to local needs ("go ing local"). And they 
are providing first hand information for th e Commission on political  developments and 
sensitivities via political reporting. 
1. The current situation 
The Commission's Representations and antennas in  the 27 Member States are the "eyes, ears 
and public face" of the Commission. In the Member  States representations play a pivotal role 
in: 
– Helping EU policy makers grasp the concerns of citizens, the media and decision makers 
– Delivering high quality information and a dvice about the EU, notably the College's 
communication priorities 
The Commission's Representations are anch ored in DG COMM, but serve the entire 
Commission. Five different areas constitute the core of each Representation's mandate: 
(1) Representation and strategy development 
(2) Communication: engage ment and dialogue  
(3) Political reporting a nd policy analysis  
(4) Press and media 
(5) Management and administration 
Member States with a population in excess of 25 million (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, The 
United Kingdom) are also suppor ted by one or more regional o ffices. Since the establishment 
of the Representation in Poland in 2004, it ha s operated without an Antenna. Given that 
 
EN 3   EN Poland has a population of over 38 m illion, this situation needs to be rectified to serve better 
Poland's needs. 
Opening an Antenna in Poland will fulfil the need for a more open debate at local level, where 
citizens express their opinions in order to influence the decision-making at EU level. 
Furthermore, this will help the Commission to  analyse public expectations in various policy 
fields, to assess the impact of policies and to identify public con cerns and perceptions in order 
to improve both policy-making and communication.  
2. Decisions 
In line with approved practice the Commission is invited to take the decision to open an 
Antenna of its Representation in Poland at the ea rliest possible date with a view to be fully 
operational at the beginning of the C ouncil Presidency of Poland in II/2011.  
2.1 Location 
Technical assessment of potential  locations of a regional office in Poland has established the 
cities of Krakow on rank one, and Wroclaw a nd Gdansk on rank two out  of eleven cities 
analysed according to the following criteria ag reed between the services of the Commission 
and the EP: 
• Size of the town; 
• Regional importance of the town; 
• Accessibility (level of the available infrastructure); 
• Geographical coverage and number of citizens,  which could be reached in the surrounding 
area (radius of 100 km from the town); 
• Distance from Warsaw and difficulty of acce ssibility of the surr ounding area of the 
location from Warsaw; 
• Degree of awareness about the European Union in the region; 
• Presence of academic institutions and organisations of the civil society. 
Wroclaw is the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. According to official population 
figures for June 2009, its population is 632,240, maki ng it the fourth largest city in Poland.  
Following the decision by the EP to locate its Antenna in Wroclaw1, it is proposed that the 
Commission follows this line and will locate its Antenna in the same premises in Wroclaw. It 
is agreed practice to co-jointly establish offices of the Commi ssion and the European 
Parliament in Member State capitals a nd regional locations where applicable. 
2.2 Agreement with EP and the city of Wroclaw 
                                                 
1 The EP by vote in its Bureau on 24 February 2010 has alr eady taken its decision to establish a regional office in 
Poland to be located in Wroclaw (PV BUR 24.02.2010, PE-7/BUR/PV/2010-03)  
 
EN 4   EN The Commission will undertake the necessary st eps in order to establish the Antenna in 
Wroclaw before the start of Polish Presidency in July 2011 in close cooperation with the EP 
and the city authorities. In this respect, th e Commission and the European Parliament have 
shared premises called "European Union Hous es", accommodating their Representations and 
external offices in almost all the capital cities of the Member States2. In fact, the Inter-
institutional Group on Information was very suppor tive at the occasion of the launching of the 
European public spaces in joint premises. 
The Commission will also undertake a building prospection jointly with the EP in order to 
host the Antenna. The Commission is aware of th e importance of the selected location for the 
success of this exercise. However, due to time, political and financial constraints, i.e. the 
foreseen opening of the regional office in II/ 2011, at least a tempor ary solution should be 
sought. A possibility is that the Antenna is hosted in offices pr ovided by the local or regional 
government as soon as possible in 2010. This so lution still has to be  negotiated with the 
Polish authorities. 
Based on the experience of the regional Repr esentation in Barcelona, the Commission 
estimates that the required office space for the time being is 700 m² approximately. This 
includes office space, storage area and the European  Public Space. In addition to this, parking 
space should be also envisaged. 
2.3 Resources implications 
The Commission estimates that th e financial implications of this communication are subject 
to the available amounts depending on th e framework of the budgetary procedure.  In 
principle, as of the beginning of 2011 the Comm ission should be able to provide budget for 
operating and staffing the regional office. 
The financial impact of the opening of the antenn a on the budget will be limited to part of the 
administrative appropriations (additional AD post) b ecause the other part of the administrative 
appropriations and the operational appropriations will be provided by internal redeployments, 
where necessary. 
Additional personnel: 1 AD (New post) 4 Contract Agents: 
(financial impact covered by redeployment) 
3. Conclusions 
The Commission is invited to: 
 - approve the Communication and its tran smission in DE/EN/FR to the European 
Parliament for information purposes; 
                                                 
2 The two institutions have not yet brought their services together under one roof in the following cities: 
Athens and Bucharest. At regional level, out of th e cities where the two institutions are present, only 
Edinburgh does not have shared premises. See for the joint housing also C(2008) 3721 final, amending 
Communication C(2005) 4010 of 19 October 2005 on "An interinstitutional policy for offices of the 
Representations in the European Union". 
 
EN 5   EN  - authorise the Director-General of DG COMM to undertake the necessary steps in 
order to establish the Antenna of the Commissi on Representation in Poland in Wroclaw ahead 
of July 2011 in close cooperation with the EP and the city authorities; 
 - instruct the Director-General of DG COMM  to liaise with the EP in an effort to 
achieve an agreement with the city of Wrocla w on providing at least temporary premises for 
the Antenna in Wroclaw, if possible free of charge for the EU institutions for 2010 and to launch in parallel a market prospection for a suit able location in case that the municipality of 
Wroclaw would not be ab le to provide offices; 
 - authorise the Director-General of DG COMM to sign for this purpose agreements 
with the EP and the competent auth orities of the city of Wroclaw.