ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEEDES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(81)116
Vol.1981/0032

Disclaimer
Conformément aurèglement (CEE,Euratom) n°354/83duConseildu1erfévrier1983
concernant l'ouverture aupublicdesarchiveshistoriques delaCommunauté économique
européenne etdelaCommunauté européenne del'énergieatomique (JOL43du15.2.1983,
p.1),telquemodifiéparlerèglement (CE,Euratom) n°1700/2003 du22septembre 2003
(JOL243du27.9.2003, p.1),cedossierestouvertaupublic.Lecaséchéant,lesdocuments
classifiés présentsdanscedossierontétédéclassifiés conformément àl'article5dudit
règlement.
Inaccordance withCouncilRegulation (EEC,Euratom) No354/83of1February 1983
concerning theopeningtothepublicofthehistoricalarchivesoftheEuropean Economic
Community andtheEuropean AtomicEnergyCommunity (OJL43,15.2.1983, p.1),as
amended byRegulation (EC,Euratom) No1700/2003 of22September 2003(OJL243,
27.9.2003, p.1),thisfileisopentothepublic.Wherenecessary, classified documents inthis
filehavebeendeclassified inconformity withArticle5oftheaforementioned regulation.
InÜbereinstimmung mitderVerordnung (EWG,Euratom) Nr.354/83desRatesvom1.
Februar 1983überdieFreigabe derhistorischen Archive derEuropäischen
Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft undderEuropäischen Atomgemeinschaft (ABI.L43vom15.2.1983,
S.1),geändertdurchdieVerordnung (EG,Euratom) Nr.1700/2003 vom22.September 2003
(ABI.L243vom27.9.2003, S.1),istdieseDateiderÖffentlichkeit zugänglich. Soweit
erforderlich, wurdendieVerschlusssachen indieserDateiinÜbereinstimmung mitArtikel5
dergenannten Verordnung freigegeben.

COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(81)116 final
Brussels,4thMay1981
INFORMATION PROGRAMME :OBJECTIVES ANDMEANS
(Communication fromtheCommission totheCouncil )
AV' ".",\/$?\<\
h\ ~-i
!*■ 1!t* »•*' !I *– I * wl1^.^] rv-^y-1 ;I
.i.=Ï-•\ ■
COM081)116final

GcrM Ait
INFORMATION PROGRAMME :OBJECTIVES AND MEANS
1. Each year theCommission has todefine general information policy
guidelines and take decisions ontheutilization ofstaff andbudgetary
resources ... ■s■ ■ *
2. Informulating itsinformation policy itmust take account of :
a)thepolitical context
b)priorities (bycountry ,audience ,and theme )
c)resources -
General political context
3. Everyone recognizes that theCommunity isgoing through avery
difficult period .Theproblem facing Member States areserious andare
provoking conflicts which aresometimes hard toresolve .Thecontribu­
tion that theCommunity canmake isfrequently viewed with suspicion .
Insome cases theCommunity iseven regarded asthecause ofthese pro­
blems .This hashad anegative effect onpublic opinion ,particularly in
theMember States .Arecent survey (Eurobarometer ,December 1980 )revealed
that thepercentage ofthose who consider theCommunity 'agood thing' is
onthedecline inevery Member State .Inthree Member countries -Denmark ,
Greece andtheUnited Kingdom -support fortheCommunity isparticularly
low . '
4. Public attitudes towards theCommunity will notchange signifi­
cantly unless theCommunity canovercome itscurrent problems .Without
credible policies ,there cannot beagood information policy .
/ '
5. For theCommission ,which isoften presented asthescapegoat ,
thecurrent situation means that itmust pursue anactive information
policy todefend notonly theCommunity butalso .itsownrole .Itshould
therefore use its information services : '
" x
a)toconvince thepublic oftheneed tocontinue todevelop
theCommunity ;
b)tostress theimportance ofwhat hasbeen achieved ;
c)toshow ,forspecific areas ,that anattempt must bemade to
find common solutions tocurrent problems ;
d)topresent itsownvision oftheCommunity 'sfuture .
6. Ifitistoachieve these objectives theCommission will need to
mobilize allthose whocancontribute' toabetter understanding ofthe
Community .Among these ,itwishes inparticular towork closely with the
European Parliament whose members -are indirect contact with voters in
theMember States andwith regional andlocal realities intheCommunity .
Itplans toinvolve theParliament asclosely aspossible (through
theappropriate committee )initsreview ofinformation policy andimple - -
mentation ofitsinformation programme ,thereby responding tothewish
expressed byParliament itself during itsrecent debate cninformation
policy .

Priorities
7. There are four essential requirements :
-coverage ofcurrent developments ;
-developing certain priority themes ;
-selecting priority countries (among member ,applicant and
non-member countries );®
-selecting priority audiences ,particularly within the Commu­
nity .
-Current developm ents
8. DG Xshould provide back upfor the Spokesman 'sGroup daily
coverage ofnews through itscentral units and information offices .
9. Sothat its services can work effectively ,the Commission should
decide ontheinformation activities which should accompany every
important decision .Itissuggested that an'information sheet beproduced
insuch cases bytheservices concerned incooperation with DGX
and the relevant cabinets .
This would set out the immediate press coverage tobe
given bythe Spokesman 'sGroup and thesupporting action tobetaken by
DG X(including the target audiences tobereached and the instruments to
beused *-for instance ,publications ,visits ,seminars ,etc.). Theresults
ofeach operation would beassessed indue course and areport made tothe
Commission .
10. Itisessential that cooperation with other Commission services
beimproved asurged byParliament inthe Schall Report which made refer­
ence toParliament 'sconcern that all Commission departments bemade aware
ofthe 'information dimension' .This involves ,among other things ,more
frequent meetings with the network ofinformation correspondents ofthe
other Directorates-general .
11. Itisalso essential toguarantee close coordination with DG X's
Information Offices bynotifying them ingood time ;supplying thenecessa­
rydocumentation quickly ;and taking national andregional aspects into
account inthepresentation ofCommission proposals .The Commission 's
regionalized information effort -with particular reference tothe European
funds -must bepursued and expanded sothat the people ofEurope can be
given abetter idea ofthe importance ofthe Community intheir daily
lives .
Themes
J
/ ; -s . '
12. The Commission hasidentified eleven priority areas inits 1981
programme .One ofDG X'sbasic tasks will betosupply asmuch informa­
tion aspossible onthese using $11 thenormal jneans atitsdisposal .1
However ,itwould beunrealistic toexpect that equal attention canbe

- 3-
paid toall ofthem .Forthis reason itissuggested that whenever the
Commission takes adecision ormakes animportant proposal aninformation
sheet beproduced andspecific information activities beapproved .Theseactivities canbefinanced from DGX'sbudgetary reserve .
13. ;Inparallel with these sectoral activities ,the Commission
-inorder toprovide aframework' for acoherent set ofinformation act­
ivities -will also take account ofcertain 'horizontal' themes such as
those indicated inthedetailed programme oftheservices ofthe Commi­
ssion which itadopted atitsmeeting ofApril 8th,1981 .
Countries -
14." Although itistrue that the Commission cannot hope tohave a
determining influence onpublic opinion through its information activities
itisnonetheless essential toselect priority countries where anextra
•effort isrequired forpolitical reasons .
I . '.
15. Member States .Given the findings ofthelatest Eurobarometer
and the views expressed byInformation Office Heads atarecent meeting ,
itissuggested that priority begiven tothose countries where itis
necessary todevelop information work .
16. Applicant and non-member countries .Itissuggested that budget -^
ary resources for Spain and Portugal should beincreased ;that amajor
priority bekept for the United States ;and that some adjustments bemade
inthe allocation ofresources for Information Offices inother non-inember
countries .
^Audiences '–
17. Inapplicant and non-member countries (with the exception of
theUnited States )available resources mean that the Commission can only
reach opinion ..leaders (for example ,press ,politicians and soon). In
member countries ,onthe other hand ,adistinction has ^obemade between
the general public andmultipliers . . '
General public
18. Asfar asthe general public isconcerned itisimpossible ,.with­
out funds onascale comparable tothose made available for the direct
elections campaign ,toreach the general public directly (amonth-long
publicity campaign would absorb theentire annual budget ofalarge Infor­
mation Office ). Consequently ,amass audience can only bereached through
the media .This isone ofDGX'spriority tasks ,though this costs time
andeffort rather than budgetary credits .Bycontrast considerable funds
arenecessary for the technical staff and operations ofthe studios and
production centre ofthe Radio ,Television and Films Division inBrussels .
This item represents themajor share ofexpenditure inthis area which
will absorb 17.6 %ofthe funds available for information toMember States
in 1981 .
11/••

19. However ,during theyear consideration ,will have tabegiven to
thefuture role ofthis Division ,*with particular reference tothepro­
duction ofaudio-visual material forregional and local stations .The
question oftransferring itsstudios totheBerlaymont will also have to
beexamined .
20. Travelling exhibitions areanother way ofreaching awide
audience .Anumber ofoffices ,notably Bonn ,have been using them regu­
larly .Last year three others -Brussels ,London andParis -mounted
travelling exhibitions too .These obtained wide media coverage ,guaranteed
aphysical presence intheregions ,andserved tohighlight theregional
impact ofCommunity activities .Itissuggested that this type ofaction
bepursued andexpanded in1981 .
21. Another way ofreaching awide audience istoundertake special
projects .These should include preparations for thecelebration ofthe
25th anniversary ofthesignature oftheTreaties ofRome ,theorganisa­
tion ofevents around specific themes ,andconsideration ofhowbest to
exploit private initiatives ,such asSail for .Europe .
Multipliers
22. Atthe same time the Commission 'sinformation effort must meet
theneeds ofopinion leaders who areimportant multipliers ofinformation .
23. TheCommission 'spresent strategy ,asfarasthis group is
concerned ,comprises twomain elements .
24. The first isbased ontheneed tomaintain regular anddirect
links with asmany opinion leaders aspossible .Adetailed study carried
out last year suggested that tomeet this need anumber ofrejuvenated
periodicals should bepublished bytheInformation Offices toinclude an
8-page Eurorofum supplement prepared inBrussels .Atthe same time it
was agreed that amuch larger audience has tobereached .Atarget reader­
ship of500,000 was set fortheendof1982 ascompared with 200,000 pre­
viously .Newreaders arealready receiving themagazines foratrial
period .,This newpolicy haseliminated earlier duplication between .pub­
lications issued from Brussels andthose issued byInformation Offices .
In1981 these periodicals will account for 29%ofthe funds allocated to
Member States .The cost ofother written material (brochures ,etc.)means
that thepublications programme asawhole will account for40.9 %ofthe
budget formember countries .
25. Thesecond element oftheCommission *sapproach toopinion leaders
istoidentify priority groups andsupply information tothem intheform
ofspecialized publications ,visits ,meetings anddiscussions .This is
done inclose association with their representative organizations ,towhom
contributions aresometimes made forspecific information activities .
26. Itissuggested that priority begiven in1981 ,tothose multi­
pliers whoareconcerned with thespecific problems affecting workers ,
women andyoung people .

27. The main items ofexpenditure under this heading arevisits and
seminars .These will beallocated 14.3 %and 22.2 %respectively in1981 ,
making atotal of36.5 X.Itshould b«noted that information toyoung
people iscurrently financed separately from general information work .
Thelast Commission divided appropriations available forthis purpose
(Article 273)between DGXand DGXII (now DG V).
 Ways and means
28. Staff .Atpresent the DG~has atotal staff of452 (officials and
local staff ),143ofwhom work inBrussels ,197in10Information Offices
and Suboffices inthe Member States ,and 112in 11Offices inapplicant
and non-member countries .
29. Inrecent years the headquarters staff complement has been
reduced bysuccessive Commission decisions while the network ofInformation
Offices hassteadily increased .Itisessential that abalance bemain­
tained between headquarters and local offices since local offices need to
befed information andinstructions appropriate tolocal realities .
30. Furthermore ,theplanned decentralization ,involving the opening
ofsuboffices inGermany andItaly did notmaterialize in1980-81 ,with
theexception ofMilan (early May 1981 )which will bemade possible by
the redeployment ofexisting staff .Asfar asnon-member countries are .
concerned ,thedelegations inBelgrade and Canberra will.be opened with­
*out information offices .Ifthis newsituation were temporary ,the
consequences would not bevery serious .But -ifthepattern isrepeated
in1982 ,given theproposals toopen delegations without information
offices inNew Delhi and Brazilia ,there will have been adefacto change .
>inpolicy . - .
31. The Commission should therefore confirm its decentralization
policy setting upsome further suboffices and provide information offices
initsdelegations inMember \States and innon-member countries .The
Commission should then take the appropriate steps tocarry through its •
decisions inpractice .
•/
32. Budget .Inrecent years the Commission ,supported bythe appro­
priate Parliamentary committee ,has sought substantial increases in
appropriations forinformation work .For 19S1 however thebudgetary
authorities entered afigure of8million ECU for post 2720 ;this is
lower inreal .terms than the sumentered theprevious year .Other
information appropriations have been either cut back orheld attheir
1980 level .
Recommendations
33. Itisproposed that the Commission :
-approve the guidelines set but inthis paper ;
-adopt theprinciple ofthe use ofaninformation sheet
referred toinpara 9,and tocharge the General Secretariat
toestablish inagreement with DGXtheprocedural rules
concerning itsapplication and toinform theservices ofthese ;
-approve theprovisional breakdown ofappropriations inthe
outline budget-programme (Annex II);
•–forward this paper ,forinformation ,totheCouncil and
Parliament -