To the EESC’s Communication Group to listen to a presentation by Francesca Ratti, Director General for Information in the European Parliament, about the information campaign that has been commissioned for this June’s European elections. The Parliament’s administration always finds itself in a strange and potentially awkward situation in election years. Parliamentary and governmental administrations may of course publicise election dates and encourage people to register to vote (where that is necessary) and they may also encourage people to use their vote. But, to quote the old adage, people don’t vote for parliaments and the EP’s specificity provides additional challenges in that regard: no government stands or falls on the results; it is difficult to imagine pan-European Obama’s materialising; and campaigns take place in numerous languages. This year, as Ratti explained, the Parliament has turned to a Berlin-based advertising agency which has come up with an ingenius approach. The Financial Times recently ran an article which describes the campaign in some detail (link here), but basically the campaign’s strongest theme is that there is a genuine choice involved and that votes in the European elections do have consquences. The campaign’s cleverness is in getting that message across without entering into partisan distinctions. A strong European Parliament, legitimised through high turnout, is the best guarantee of the European Union’s democratic future. So, if you have a vote please use it!
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