VasGk | Κοινωνικό Νερό

I truly believe that most people want to be involved and vote in the upcoming European elections, although I clearly disagree with the communication policy of the European Parliament on GOTV . The major European Parties (which are a result of transnational party collaborations) do not have pan-European campaigns, EU citizens will vote for a national and not a pan-European party. The problem is that individual country issues and local politics play a bigger role than European issues in the upcoming elections . This is what this new party the Newropeans is trying to accomplish. According to an interview by Bart Kruitwagen in EurActiv " Only with the proliferation of trans-European parties can we build the "strong and stable democracy needed to see the EU achieve its potential as a "world power". Also have a look at their magazine . However they are in need of a sound communication strategy, especially online! When we also start to explore the role of youth enga...

You might think that a pan-European "Get out the vote" campaign will be an opportunity to embrace and promote the upcoming EU elections . Well, after watching this video clip I must say that I feel disturbed and surely not motivated to go and vote. I cannot believe that the EU Parliament has not put more research into it. As I commented to the European Parliament facebook page "Who does these commercials?! did you ever thought of consulting a Marketing or Political Communications consultant? This is amateur stuff!!! Plus it is repulsive to look at; do you honestly believe that screaming women and Friday the 13th figures will make EU citizens go to the polls? Really?..."

So, I traveled to Thessaloniki for the Greek Easter, and you can imagine my surprise when at the tolls just outside Athens I saw these flags by the Greek Communist Party please note the hammer and sickle symbol at the top of the flags. Now, my first reaction was total surprise! I asked myself whether this photo would be possible on any other European highway; I am now back in Vienna, Austria and it really strikes me as impossible. Also, along with the flags, there were volunteers covering all lanes, with fryers explaining the values of the communist party with the slogan "Trust the KKE in the upcoming EU elections". I must say that this is one of the first campaign moves from a Greek Political party for the upcoming European elections, scheduled between 4 and 7 of June 2009. The message was clear enough: even if you don't agree with the Communists, vote for them in the European elections to send a "message"... whatever that means... Also in the same fryers the...

What would you ask José Manuel Durão Barroso, the current President of the European Commission? I came across the site http://w ww.tellbarroso.eu/ - a great example of EU politics coming up with a website, and an opportunity to put EU Internet into good use... there is also a facebook group but with very little support, given that we are talk ing about the EU. The "Tell Barroso" website an initiative by the Centre for European Studies asks all Europe ans to answer: How can the EU improve your life? All in all the website is not anything spectacular and the multimedia and communications team at the EU Commission could definitely have done a better job in engaging with the citizens of the EU and creating a community like website that users can interact and co-operate with one another. Instead the site just asks vague open ended questions like What areas affecting your daily life should the EU focus its energies on? they urge people to think of as many issues as come to the...