Communicating Europe in Partnership
Date: 2009-01-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Council of the European Union, European Commission, European Parliament, communications policy, cooperation policy, interinstitutional agreement

20.1.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 13/3

Communicating Europe in Partnership

(2009/C 13/02)

Objectives and principles

1.
The European Parliament, Council and the European Commission attach the utmost importance to
improving communication on EU issues in order to enable European citizens to exercise their right to parti-
cipate in the democratic life of the Union, in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely
as possible to the citizens, observing the principles of pluralism, participation, openness and transparency.

2.
The three Institutions wish to encourage the convergence of views on the communication priorities of
the European Union as a whole, to promote the added value of an EU approach to communication on
European issues, to facilitate exchanges of information and best practices and develop synergies between the
Institutions when carrying out communication relating to these priorities, as well as to facilitate cooperation
among the Institutions and Member States where appropriate.

3.
The three Institutions recognise that communicating on the European Union requires a political
commitment of EU Institutions and Member States, and that Member States have their responsibility to
communicate with citizens about the EU.

4.
The three Institutions believe that information and communication activities on European issues
should give everyone access to fair and diverse information about the European Union and enable citizens
to exercise their right to express their views and to participate actively in the public debate on European
Union issues.

The three Institutions promote the respect of multilingualism and cultural diversity when imple-

5.
menting information and communication actions.

6.
The three Institutions are politically committed to achieving the above objectives. They encourage the
other EU institutions and bodies to support their efforts and to contribute, if they so wish, to this approach.

A partnership approach

The three Institutions recognise the importance of addressing the communication challenge on
7.
EU issues in partnership between Member States and the EU institutions to ensure effective communication
with, and objective information to, the widest possible audience at the appropriate level.

They wish to develop synergies with national, regional and local authorities as well as with representatives
of civil society.

They would like for that purpose to foster a pragmatic partnership approach.

8.
They recall in this respect the key role of the Inter-institutional Group on Information (IGI) serving as
a high-level framework for the Institutions to encourage political debate on EU-related information and
communication activities in order to foster synergy and complementarity. To that purpose,
the IGI,
co-chaired by representatives of the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission, and
with the participation of the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee
as observers, meets in principle twice a year.

A framework for working together

The three Institutions intend to cooperate on the following basis:

9. Whilst respecting the individual responsibility of each EU institution and Member State for its own
communication strategy and priorities, the three Institutions will, in the framework of the IGI,
identify
yearly a limited number of common communication priorities.

C 13/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

20.1.2009

10.
These priorities will be based on communication priorities identified by the EU Institutions and
bodies following their internal procedures and complementing, where appropriate, Member States' strategic
views and efforts in this field, taking into account citizens' expectations.

The three Institutions and the Member States will endeavour to promote appropriate support for

11
communication on the priorities identified.

12.
The services responsible for communication in Member States and EU institutions should liaise with
each other to ensure successful implementation of the common communication priorities, as well as other
activities linked to EU communication, if need be on the basis of appropriate administrative arrangements.

The Institutions and Member States are invited to exchange information on other EU related commu-
in particular on sectoral communication activities envisaged by the Institutions and

13.
nication activities,
bodies, when they result in information campaigns in Member States.

14.
The Commission is invited to report back at the beginning of each year to the other EU Institutions
on the main achievements of the implementation of the common communication priorities of the previous
year.

This political declaration has been signed on the twenty-second day of October in the year two

15.
thousand and eight.

Done at Strasbourg on the twenty-second day of October in the year two thousand and eight.

For the
European Parliament

The President

For the
Council of the European Union

For the Commission
of the European Communities

The President

The President