Communication to the Commission concerning the opening of an Antenna of the Commission Representation in Poland
Date: 2010-06-18
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Commission Delegation, European Commission, Poland

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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 

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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  activities  by  providing 
information  and  engaging  in  debate  and  discussion  with  citizens  in  national,  regional  and 
local  contexts,  thus  promoting  active  European  citizenship  and  contributing  to  the 
development  of  a  European  public  sphere.  Therefore  communicating  at  regional  and  local 
level  is  essential  for  involving  citizens  in  this  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 and media, especially at regional and local level. They are – together 
with  the  Europe  Direct  Network  -  the  main  interlocutors  for  citizens  on  EU  affairs  "on  the 
ground" in the Commission efforts to tailor messages to local needs ("going local"). And they 
are  providing  first  hand  information  for  the  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  advice  about  the  EU,  notably  the  College's 

communication priorities 

The  Commission's  Representations  are  anchored  in  DG  COMM,  but  serve  the  entire 
Commission. Five different areas constitute the core of each Representation's mandate: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

Representation and strategy development 

Communication: engagement and dialogue  

Political reporting and 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 supported by one or more regional offices. Since the establishment 
of  the  Representation  in  Poland  in  2004,  it  has  operated  without  an  Antenna.  Given  that 

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Poland has a population of over 38 million, 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 concerns 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 earliest possible date with a view to be fully 
operational at the beginning of the Council 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  and  Gdansk  on  rank  two  out  of  eleven  cities 
analysed according to the following criteria agreed 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  accessibility  of  the  surrounding  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, making 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  Commission  and  the  European 
Parliament in Member State capitals and 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 already 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) 

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The  Commission  will  undertake  the  necessary  steps  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,  the  Commission  and  the  European  Parliament  have 
shared premises called "European Union Houses", 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 supportive 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 the 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  temporary  solution  should  be 
sought. A possibility is that the Antenna is hosted in offices provided by the local or regional 
government  as  soon  as  possible  in  2010.  This  solution  still  has  to  be  negotiated  with  the 
Polish authorities. 

Based  on  the  experience  of  the  regional  Representation  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 the financial implications of this communication are subject 
to  the  available  amounts  depending  on  the  framework  of  the  budgetary  procedure.  In 
principle, as of the beginning of 2011 the Commission should be able to provide budget for 
operating and staffing the regional office. 

The financial impact of the opening of the antenna on the budget will be limited to part of the 
administrative appropriations (additional AD post) because 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  transmission  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 the 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". 

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-  authorise  the  Director-General  of  DG  COMM  to  undertake  the  necessary  steps  in 
order to establish the Antenna of the Commission 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 Wroclaw 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 suitable location in case that the municipality of 
Wroclaw would not be able to provide offices; 

-  authorise  the  Director-General  of  DG  COMM  to  sign  for  this  purpose  agreements 

with the EP and the competent authorities of the city of Wroclaw. 

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