How much do you know about your Rights and Responsibilities at European level? On a scale of 1 to 10, the average European citizen attains a lowly 4.42 rating concerning self – perceived knowledge of the European Union. A score like that would inhibit your success in an academic setting of any kind. So how is it that being poorly or inadequately informed, about the European Union and its institutions, is accepted in a modern democracy?.

An informed citizen is essential to the democratic process. In a report in EUROBAROMETER 51 reference is made to a special survey on reasons why people decide not to vote "The most widely affirmed reason is not feeling well enough informed to go and vote (61%), followed by not having sufficient knowledge about the role, the importance and the power of the European Parliament (59%)". It is as if people are saying, "As I am not sufficiently informed, I do not feel able to vote in European elections"

For this and other reasons as diversified as knowing your social security rights to being abreast of the Common Foreign and Security Policy or Trade Policy, ECAS is recommending that the Convention, on the Future of Europe, add to the list of policies in Article 3 of the Treaty - A Policy to inform citizens of their European rights and the activities of the European Community.

ECAS believes that a similar addition should be made to the Treaty on European Union itself.

*** New Treaty Article proposal

1. All citizens of the Union, and all natural persons residing in a Member State, shall have a right to be informed of the activities of the EU Institutions and of their rights and obligations derived from the Treaties.

2. Action by the Institutions, should complement efforts by the Member States and regional authorities to inform citizens about the Union.

3. The Council, action in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251, shall adopt information programmes
(a) To establish the general strategy of the Institutions and how they should cooperate with the Member States, taking into account available data of the information needs of citizens;
(b) To inform citizens of their individual and collective European rights and obligations and in particular of the Charter of fundamental rights;
(c) To inform citizens of legislation and policies being prepared and adopted;
(d) To inform citizens about the major challenges facing the Union.

4. The European parliament, the Council and the Commission shall elaborate in their respective rules of procedure specific provisions regarding the right to information.

The proposal for a treaty article is not something which occurred to ECAS overnight. It came to fruition in response to the Commission's White Paper on Governance, published in July 2001, wherein the Commission admitted that its institutions were intrinsically remote from the public. It was evident that though Europeans want to be, they are not well, informed about the European Union.

ECAS’s 35 page paper entitled ‘Information for the European Citizen’, backing up this proposal, is exclusively concerned with the provision of information in the sense of factual, non-propagandist material as a means of helping people exercise their democratic rights. Information for the European Citizen is seen as “a public service function which provides impartial information to help people participate in the greater political debate”.

A right to information is part of developing a true European citizenship. However, the impact of new rights and obligations in the Treaty will be limited unless people are informed in the first place.

Already information or rather the lack of it, is the single largest barrier to the free movement of people (i.e. social security issues, recognition of diplomas, etc ...)

If people do not know their rights, it is not surprising that so few exercise them such as; the right of access to documents, to petition the European parliament or complain to the Ombudsman.

The paper analyses the evidence produced by the Eurobarometer and comes to the following conclusions,

“Most people need and want factual information about the EU, its activities, and their part in it without prejudice to the activities of national authorities in the field and that they are content to have that information provided by the Commission.

A new Treaty article should … be promoted to provide a legal basis for the citizen to be informed about their individual and collective rights and responsibilities in the EU and about the facts behind the challenges facing the EU.”

“Major information campaigns apart from the EURO campaign have been knee-jerk reactions as opposed to part of a measured approach to communication.”

“The text of the treaty article would extend the activities of the European Community so as it give people the assurance that they can rely on being provided with the essential information to enable them to participate actively in the Union - in particular to exercise their rights and fulfil their duties as citizens of the Union.

ECAS will follow up this research and proposition for a New Treaty Article with Mr. Jean Luc Dehaene, Vice – President of the Convention on the Future of Europe, at the 14 June afternoon session of the Civil Society Forum on Citizens and the Institutions.

The right to Information is a very simple, rudimentary concept that in all honesty should have been thought of and thought out, long ago by the European Community.

The report of ECAS is available online under:
http://www.ecas.org/default_convention.asp

For more information contact: mailto:info@ecas.org

About ECAS:

Euro Citizen Action Service (ECAS), an independent non-profit organisation created in 1990, is a citizens watchdog, campaigning for the right of individuals and NGOs to be heard by the EU Institutions. The statutory objective of the association is to create a better balance between public interest and corporate lobbying and in that way to contribute to a citizens' Europe. ECAS pursues this objective by providing information, guidance and focused research on EU policy initiatives and fundraising. The originality of ECAS is that it is open to both NGOs and individual members, acting both as a service to organisations, and as a European citizens advice bureau, particularly in the area of free movement of people. The association is about action as much as information. ECAS pioneers new thinking, for example in the area of European citizenship and has promoted both new policy developments, Treaty reforms and European associations. The EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights provides a context for an activity which is not sectoral but cross-sectoral, to promote dialogue between a genuine European civil society, and more open and accountable European Institutions.

The activities of ECAS correspond to three objectives :
- To strengthen the European strategy of NGOs in member and
applicant States of the EU.
- To defend European citizens' free movement rights, and promote
a more inclusive European citizenship.
- To campaign for transparency in the EU Institutions,
particularly in the area of access to documents.

The Chairman of ECAS is Michael Brophy and the Director is Tony Venables with a staff of 6 persons to serve the membership.

More on www.ecas.org