Euro blogging
In France, bloggers claimed they were responsible for defeating the new European constitution. Now the EU is fighting back.
Margot Wallström, the European Union Commissioner responsible for communications strategy, has launched her own blog. In a speech on June 28th, she gave a powerful defence of why blogging is important in government.
“Why blog?” she asks. “Not because I am particularly masochistic – but because I want people to see that the Commission is not made up of “faceless bureaucrats†but of real human beings.
I read the comments with interest, and the depth of the debate is impressive on - for instance - the Constitution and the referendums, the whole question of democracy in the EU and, indeed, the question of whether we really need the EU at all.
The message? You can only deal with bloggers by joining them. You have to engage in the debate.
Wallstrom is making exactly the right point. Blogging is partly about communicating, but is also about humanising institutions, making them less remote and less threatening. That is a valuable lesson for the EU, but also for any organisation or company that fears it is losing touch with the public.
