Communicating in Europe - Communicating on Europe
First European Conference on Public Communication (EuroPCom)
Brussels,
12-14 October 2010
700 public sector communication professionals from all over Europe
gathered in Brussels between 12 and 14 October for the 1st European Public
Communication Conference (EuroPCom) at the European Parliament and Committee of
the Regions (CoR) headquarters. Organised upon initiative of the
regions of Flanders and Wallonia and the CoR, they came to discuss how
they can work together to improve public sector communication and raise
awareness about the EU policies.
The Opening Session in the European Parliament was addressed by
Mercedes Bresso and EP Vice-President
Stavros Lambrinidis and followed by a panel debate on
the challenge of proximity when communication in or on Europe among
communication directors from local, regional and national level (Frankfurt,
Murcia, Poland) and high-level representatives of the EP, the Council and the
European Commission. More than 90 speakers from local,
regional, national and EU level and well as academics and journalists presented
and discussed best practice in communication during ten workshops on issues such
as social networks, 'going local', and sustainable communication. The Closing
Session was addressed by Kris Peeters,
Minister-President of the Flemish Government, as well as Reijo Kemppinen,
Director-General, Press, Communication, Transparency, Council of the EU.
Participants had the possibility to present examples from their
communications campaigns which linked in with the two main themes:
Communicating in Europe – Communicating on Europe as well as with
the following six subjects which were examined at the conference
- Making public communication more efficient and professional
- Communicating about Europe at multiple levels of government
- Communicating in ways that encourage public participation
- Sustainability and communication
- Relations with the press and the media
- Branding states, regions, cities and municipalities
The end of the conference saw the launch of a web-based platform which can be
found – together with more information about the event - at: www.europcom.net. All in all,
the conference
- served to inform the inter-institutional debate on 'communicating Europe
in partnership', going local, 'branding Europe' etc. and put the CoR in the
role of a facilitator of that debate;
- presented 80 case studies in communication from different levels of
government
- initiated the possibility to create network of local and regional
communication directors across different member states.
Further information and details of the event check http://europcom.net.