See anything for you in the EU?

The European Commission has finally published its long awaited communication on communication.

That is a good sign given the EU's continued inability to compete for media attention with national politics, global events or even gossip about public personalities. When it does surface it tends to be in the tired, Eurosceptic guise of a farcical sideshow or threat to the sovereignty of the nation state.

Good news rarely makes the headlines and, since the EU is essentially a good news story of co-operation and power-sharing, that means almost never.

So why is it so hard to communicate? Why is the EU too often perceived as self-serving, corrupt and power-hungry? Why do bent bananas merit more media attention than legislation affecting 450 million people?

The answer lies both in the millennium generation's apathy for 'high' politics and in negative perceptions of the Union. Greater power-sharing across a spectrum of policy areas has not yet been matched by the sort of public debate that is normal when enacting national law. We may have a European democracy - but we do not have a European demos.

Citizens feel ignored, uncertain of the motives of Brussels's policymakers and no longer certain of what the European Union is actually for. Few really understand its structures and unique, consensus-seeking, working methods.

Eurobarometer surveys show that lack of confidence in the EU institutions is at an all-time high. The EU constitution was supposed to address these issues. Instead, its top-down approach meant citizens were never really given a chance to express themselves and help shape the answer.

In terms of communicating Europe the constitution can be viewed as a model of what not to do. Though its essentials were sound its principal failings were its length, its title and its marketing. The principal cause of its downfall, on the other hand, lay in a supreme lack of courage and conviction from press and politicians - particularly national leaders - who never really went out and sold it to their publics.

Perhaps that was never really on the cards given the knocks the EU has taken in its unofficial role as scapegoat for the failings of national politics. When gold-plating of EU directives goes too far or unpopular deals made behind huis clos in the Council come to light, blame has an alarming tendency to fall on Brussels. Far from the Union of values Europe's leaders are striving to build, the EU is often perceived, like an unscrupulous tax-collector, as a spendthrift, a bully and a con.

This was not always the case. The European Union is a grand project founded on grand ideas. But in a climate where peace between our nations is taken for granted, the EU's former trump card has become practically irrelevant. Governments are preoccupied with domestic agendas and international challenges whilst citizens are demanding practical measures on jobs, growth and security in the face of globalisation.

If the EU is to become more relevant it must be seen to deliver employment opportunities, security, efficient public services and a clean environment. It must also find ways of sharing the best of Europe without trying to impose or manage everything centrally.

There is now an effort to move the EU in that direction with a focus on better and simpler legislation, jobs and growth initiatives, raising R&D spending, support for small- and medium- sized entreprises, achieving a common energy policy and sensible thinking on immigration. If the European Union, acting collectively, can bring added value in these areas, it will sell itself without any need of a communication policy.

The Commission, in its ongoing deliberations on improving communications policy must consider carefully how to break the cycle of scepticism and mistrust. More 'Euro-solutions' will not suffice. We cannot make people love the EU, but we can show them why they need it.

The EU has much going for it but to date its institutions have consummately failed to communicate its benefits to voters who hold its future in their hands. This is a crucial juncture which, if misjudged, could place Europe and its grand project beyond redemption.

• UK MEP Graham Watson is the leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in the European Parliament.

The author, who is a UK MEP and leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), says it is useless to make citizens love the EU. Instead leaders should try to get people to see why they need the EU.