European information: current issues and trends

Ian Thomson, Bell & Howell Information and Learning; United Kingdom

• Introduction

• The information and communication policy of the European Union: the context
• the ‘duty’of the EU to inform (and to ‘listen’) – the ‘right’ of the citizen to know – openness and transparency
• new forms of decisions making (‘governance’) at a European level required
• increasing need for EU information from individuals and organisations in the Member States, applicants countries and elsewhere

- Europe is more than the EU

• EU Information and Communication Policy today: what are the key concepts?

• Decentralisation: EU should share responsibility with other ‘stakeholders’: public and commercial
• Interactive communication to improve European governance: ‘spontaneous’ and ‘structured’ two-way communication with representative organisations – Greater communication and consultation: conferences, hearings, ‘chats’ etc
• Interinstitutional co-operation: how far should it go?
• Externalisation: use external agencies to manage day-to-day information operations
• Emphasis on electronic dissemination
• Enlargement strategy

• EU Information and Communication Policy: current developments

- White Paper on Information and Communication, 2001

• Re-organisation in the European Commission: key departments responsible for information:
• Press and Communication Service
• Secretariat General
• DG Enterprise

- Access to documents: Regulation on access to documents

• EU information on the internet (EUROPA)
• new-style ‘portals’: bringing together information on related subjects

EUR-LEX – The EU in the World – RTD 2002 – Futurum – Treaty of Nice - Closure of SCAD : Expansion of ECLAS

- electronic archiving

• European information on the internet: ‘free’ or ‘to pay’

• EU & stakeholders put primary data on internet : a new way of communicating
• challenge of searching for information on the internet
• the role of the commercial sector : competing models: free access to user v subscription

The author is the President of the European Information Association and the author and executive publisher of the KnowEurope online service