Friday

29th Mar 2024

Commission to spend millions on Constitution information campaigns

The European Commission is this year set to pump around eight million euro into information campaigns on the EU Constitution.

The money will be allocated according to various factors, including how much citizens know about the EU and how the Constitution will be ratified in a certain member state.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Three million euro will be allocated according to special criteria (Photo: European Commission)

The Commission argues that the extra funds will help national governments to raise awareness of the new treaty among their citizens.

And the funds should be spent on different projects - like publishing the text of the Constitution or explanatory brochures for the citizens - "everything but the propaganda", according to Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, the Commission's spokesman for the communication strategy.

Two different pots

There are two different funding pools available, one of five million and one of three million.

Five million euro is to be distributed on the basis of the member states' population -Germany is to receive around 900,000 euro while Malta is to get about 5000 euro - and sent out to the Commission's offices across the EU.

The governments can ask them for assistance in distributing information.

"We will not give them money but the tools for spreading the information. It will be our products, not theirs, so there's no conflict in that," Mr Dowgielewicz commented on a possible bias on the part of the governments communicating the Constitution while also trying to gather popular support for it.

In what is dubbed a "second wave" of allocation, three million euro is to be distributed among the member states according to special criteria - whether these criteria are met will be judged by the Commission.

The quality of the projects proposed to inform citizens, the level of knowledge citizens have about the Constitution and how the text is to be ratified in that country will be factors taken into account.

The countries whose citizens know least about the 465-article treaty should be eligible for more support.

The most recent Eurobarometer survey suggested that the lowest awareness of the Constitution was found in Cyprus (35% of people have heard of it), the UK (50%) and Greece (51%).

Member states ratifying the Constitution by popular poll are also expected to receive more from the common coffers.

"If a country holds a referendum, it is in a completely different situation, as it needs to provide information to wider network of stakeholders, more so than in case of countries adopting the Constitution by parliament", the Commission's spokesman pointed out.

Spain is the first of the 10 countries to hold a referendum on the Constitution at the end of the week (20 February).

The Commission has spent about 1.3 million euro in the country, with a significant part coming from last year's budget.

Ukraine slams grain trade restrictions at EU summit

Restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU could translate into military losses in their bid to stop Russia's war, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned EU leaders during their summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Difficult talks ahead on financing new EU defence spending

With the war in Ukraine showing no signs of ending any time soon, EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday (21 and 22 March) to discuss how to boost the defence capabilities of Ukraine and of the bloc itself.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us