Expanding the network

Date: 21/05/1998

By Rory Watson

BELGIUM is looking to establish a Euro-Info Point in each of its ten provinces and France is planning to locate one in every region, while another will shortly be opened in Vienna.

Similar expansions of this network, which provides the urban public with information about the European Union, are taking place in Greece, Spain and Italy. Two years ago, there were 37 centres scattered around the member states. Now there are 65, and a further 15 could open by the end of the year.

What the Euro-Info Points, which first appeared on to the scene in 1994, do for Europe's cities, a separate network - the Carrefours - does for the countryside. The first of these rural centres was established ten years ago and now there are almost 100 stretching from Ireland to Greece.

“The Info Points and Carrefours concentrate on active information. When a local event takes place, like the Avignon Festival last year, they are there to ensure an EU presence. They also take part in European activities such as Europe Day on 9 May,” explains an EU official.

A large part of the centres' activities are focused on schools and young people, but they also provide access to official EU documentation and are able to point people in the right direction to get their problems solved.

The mushrooming of the bureaux is a classic example of the bottom-up approach whereby an initiative is launched locally and then examined by the European Commission's office in the member state and by officials in Brussels.

If it is approved, a contract is signed by the Commission and a local organisation, frequently a public authority, which runs the Info Point and provides the premises, equipment and staff.

From there, a partnership develops. The Commission lays down a number of conditions: above all, that the venture should be sufficiently viable to run for several years, and provides annual finance of 25,000 ecu for a new Info Point and 15,000 ecu for a Carrefour.

While each centre may be organised differently, the Commission tries to ensure basic standards are met by training staff, providing access to its databases and by giving its official seal of approval to those which have made the grade.

Staff in the various offices are brought together once a year. They will meet next in Berlin in the autumn to exchange experiences.

The Commission is aiming to create a regionally balanced and identifiable structure of Info Points. But it now faces a new challenge, with requests coming from applicant countries in central Europe for similar information offices.