European
Institute of Romania Newsletter - September
2013
The need for better
communication in the field of European affairs has been discussed more and more
often in the public space. In your opinion, how could European institutions
improve mechanisms of communication with citizens? What steps should be taken
for a better understanding of the European construction by the population of the
Member States?
Numerous studies on
the European Union equally emphasise the central role played by unelected
officials in the EU decision-making process, as well as the need to “Europeanize"
public communication. The political parties at the level of the entire European
Union are only in an incipient phase, which is why any referendum or any other
type of elections organised at European level will always be seen from a
national perspective. Moreover, it is difficult to achieve the mobilisation of
transnational European actors at European level. There are a few proposed solutions.
Firstly, the EU must offer citizens a positive and comprehensible image
concerning its activities; in other words, it must be transparent,
comprehensive and accessible. Secondly, the EU needs to develop a communication
strategy able to bring it closer to citizens’ daily life. This implies the
dissemination of information beyond the borders of the European capital.
Thirdly, the European Union must re-establish balance at national level, by
decentralising communication and creating partnerships with national entities.
In this context, Romanians
are known to generally display a great dose of trust in Community institutions.
However, this trust is associated by certain analysts with a de facto ignorance
of the European system. In your opinion, are Romanians correctly informed about
the operating mechanism of the European Union? What would be your suggestions
concerning a campaign for raising awareness among the Romanian citizens on
European projects?
According to the
recent barometer, 62% of Romanians declare themselves optimistic about the
future of the European Union, a percentage ranking sixth among European states.
But the serious issue is that 71% of Romanians do not believe their voice is
listened to in the EU. Nevertheless, they must understand they have access to
certain “tools” they can use to take action – for example, European citizens
are politically represented by euro-deputies. The EU has a complex
decision-making system which is difficult to understand and there is a lack of
interest for this construction from the part of national education systems.
Somebody has recently suggested to me that it might not be a bad idea to think
about introducing in the curriculum a subject on the European culture and
civilisation. But it should have a very practical content; it should not be tedious
and full of statistical data. Coherent courses should be taught on the
significance of European citizenship, the rights and obligations of European
citizens, the opportunities we, as Romanians, have in the European area. And
the Europeanization and internationalisation exercise must be continued at the
level of higher education. Foreign teachers must become a common practice in absolutely
all universities and Master programs should be taught in international languages
as much as possible, so that the Romanian youth can get used to the globalisation.
A new round of
elections to the European Parliament will be held in 2014. Taking into account
the experience of the previous elections (in 2009), what could be done to increase
voter turnout and the involvement of Romanian citizens in the European debate?
The topic of
turnout in “European elections” is a kind of barometer of "EU’s popularity
in the country in question", with wide implications on a very complex
topic – the legitimacy of European institutions. We need powerful European
leaders (politically, but especially morally) in order to build up credibility
and coherence. The visibility of "human faces" is important. Due to
the complexity of the European mechanism, ordinary people do not manage to
really identify themselves with the great European ideologies and slogans. I
remember the opening of candidacy for European Parliament elections in 2009,
when most activists barely managed to adjust themselves to a 2-3 month action,
preliminary to 7 June 2009. MEPs represent the citizens’ voice. Their role must
not be limited to serving in certain parliamentary commissions and to showing
up on TV over the weekends explaining to the citizens the activity of the
European Parliament. The Member of the European Parliament is the bond between
the Government and the Parliament of Romania, facilitating a better
understanding of Community initiatives. They communicate permanently with the
business sector and organised civil society in order to really take citizens’
pulse. We have got a balanced team of Romanian MEPs, but we also need a new inspiration
from time to time, from people who are connected to the reality of Brussels, as
well as to the one in Romania. This "double hat", as well as the
necessary complementarity between political will and technical expertise, maximises
the influence in Brussels, since we have so many people able to talk both
Romanian and “the Brussels jargon”.
In a Europe
continuously focusing on the concept of solidarity, what would be the best
solutions to create a critical mass of Romanians conveying a unitary voice at
Community level?
Connecting over 20 million
inhabitants to the European Union is a very complex task, difficult to achieve.
Neither a certain person, nor a certain political party, nor even State
institutions must be blamed for failing to perfectly achieve this goal.
Although it is paradoxical, “the macro procedure” for national-European relations
is mostly a technical algorithm requiring multiple expertises in certain
specific sectors (legislation, social and business sectors, etc.). Political
will is important, but it must be backed by a strong technical component.
Undeniably, Romania faces problems related to allocated human resources and financing
this system of “fine-tuning Romania to the European Union". In order to
connect our country to the EU, we need around 5 000 Romanians in Brussels
and 25 000 persons in Romania who really get involved in the Community
mechanism. Currently, only about 2 500 people are estimated to be in
Brussels and a maximum of 10 000 in Bucharest (especially in the public
sector).
2019 will bring the
EU’s rotating presidency to Romania. Although it seems to be a remote date,
preparations for assuming and sustaining this role must begin. What would be,
in your opinion, the goals Romania would bring to the forefront of the European
agenda?
In order to adjust
to the European working methods, we should already begin preparations so that
we can accomplish our tasks by 2019. We have 6 years left to show our partners
and to prove to ourselves that we are good when it comes to ideas, projects and
management of the helm of the Community club. Since 2007, we have managed to
promote certain topics on the EU agenda which are dear to our hearts – such as the
Black Sea and the Danube – we shifted from a less important portfolio of
European commissioner (multilingualism) to a major one (agriculture). There are
still many things to be done. We have to be ambitious and compare ourselves to
countries that joined the EU in 2004, such as Poland. It is important that we
continue our journey to the Euro zone, certainly by taking into account the
steps and the rhythm imposed by our economy. At the same time, it is important
to have a geopolitical mindset, thinking from the standpoint of an ambitious
partner and not one on the periphery of the Union. Romania needs a new blend of
stimuli for internal capital, a greater openness to foreign investments and, at
the forefront of the EU interest, a higher absorption of European funds. In
this context, regionalisation is a solution; it is not the only one, but it is
worth a close look and a check invested in Romania’s future.
Last but not least,
we would be grateful if you briefly shared to our readers "how is Romania
seen from Brussels today”?
As some experts
have recently stated, Romania currently seems to be only physically in the
European Union, since economically and socially we are far from the European
reality. We notice Poland has strengthened its sixth position in the ranking of
EU political powers and now everybody is talking about “top 6 EU countries”
(together with Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy and Spain). Unfortunately,
Romania’s problem is that it does not make itself heard enough in the European
debates. We will manage to integrate as an EU country only if we are present.
Romania must give up its stance of “humility” and “empty chair” in certain
sectoral policies. It is very important to identify the great topics debated in
Brussels. It is necessary to calibrate our country and to advance in the
project of EU integration. But, in order to do this, we need specialists,
sectoral experts, within ministries and the local administration, who can make-up
a complete team playing both in Brussels and in Cluj or Bucharest.
Interview by Oana
Mocanu and Mihai Sebe
Dan LUCA / Brussels
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