Diplomats urge EU to do more to ‘sell’ enlargement to public

Date: 02/05/02

By Craig Winneker

THE EU needs to do a better job of selling enlargement to citizens - both in member states and applicant countries - if it wants to dampen growing support for anti-immigrant politicians, said several diplomats this week.

Speaking at a Brussels conference on enlargement, representatives of eastern European governments - as well as from member states - said the recent electoral success of populist, anti-EU demagogues in France, the Netherlands and Italy shows that a new focus is needed.

Rather than talking about the accession process in terms of the acquis communautaire or of open or closed chapters, they argued, EU leaders should emphasise broader themes.

'In general, the public is becoming more and more afraid of globalisation,' said former Lithuanian premier Andrius Kubilius. 'We are making a mistake when we are talking about enlargement only in terms of economic pragmatism...We need to speak the language of values.

'Europeans want to hear that language. That is why they are turning to populist messages. Populism is very simple to understand. Europe is very hard to understand.'

Crucial to addressing this issue, participants said, is the Convention on Europe's future, which is considering ways to make the EU more accessible to ordinary people.

'Europe must aim to reinforce the participation of citizens in the structures of the European Union,' Romanian President Ion Iliescu said.

'Europe's citizens need to understand how the institutions work and we need to act accordingly.'

Meglena Kuneva, Bulgaria's chief EU negotiator, added: 'Keep in mind at all times that we are not negotiating technical issues.

'We are stipulating our future relationships.'

Other diplomats at the Forum Europe event suggested broadening the debate to include more participants - again stressing the need to discuss more than just negotiation chapters.

'Positive solutions need a positive atmosphere - not just among the political elite but also the business community and the public,' said Juraj Migas, Slovakia's EU ambassador and chief negotiator.

Slovakia is one country where populist politicians - although not necessarily anti-EU ones - have strong support.

In September's elections, controversial nationalist Vladimir Meciar is expected to win as much as 30 of the vote, enough to put him in first place but not guarantee a place in government.

Another populist candidate, Robert Fico of the newly formed Direction party, promises to launch a campaign to better educate the public about what joining the Union will mean - even the negative aspects. Like nearly every candidate in Slovakia, he supports EU membership.

'The problem in Slovakia is that there is no realistic discussion among the people,' Fico said. 'There are only positive messages.'

He added that too many people are under the illusion that EU membership is a 'paradise'. After the reality of joining sets in there could be disillusionment.

'Someone might abuse this,' Fico said, adding that he wants to incite more debate on the issue now, before the country joins the EU.

'We know the number of chapters being closed,' he said, 'but no one knows what is in the chapters.'

Representatives from eastern European governments and those of the EU member States have emphasised the need to promote enlargement to EU citizens in the wake of the increase in far-right popularity across Western Europe.