1. Plan of action for better communication with Europes citizens
The European Commission has drawn up a new plan for improving the dialogue with European citizens. This should be seen against the background of the negative referenda on the EU constitution in France and the Netherlands.
The three principles of “listening”, “communicating” and “establishing contacts at local level” are the main features of the draft. The aim of the 50 actions covered by the plan is to bring about an improvement in the Commission departments knowledge of and abilities in communicating European policies. Among other things, it envisages increasing Commission representation in the Member States and preparing simply worded summaries and explanations of the most important Commission proposals.
In the second phase, the plan of action will be followed by a White Paper aimed at all those involved and setting out the political vision and the medium- and long-term measures to be introduced in cooperation with the other bodies and decision-makers.
2. Tobacco advertising ban enters into force
The EU directive on the tobacco advertising ban, which was passed two years ago, entered into force on 31st July 2005. The directive prohibits tobacco advertising in the print media, on radio and via the Internet. It also prohibits the sponsorship of transnational sporting and cultural events. Sponsorship is still allowed though for local sports events involving participants from only one Member State. In addition, advertising is still permitted in cinemas, on scoreboards and on products.
3. Example of INTERREG project: Sedentealps
The INTERREG IIIB project Sedentealps wants to foster transfer of knowledge in the field of sports events management in the Alpine Space through an ad hoc network. The main objective of this network is to promote sustainable economic development and tourism policies. Event management and mainly large scale sports events have become a promotion tool for the know-how of a region.
The Alpine Space has hosted several large scale sport events such as the Olympic Winter Games in Albertville, Innsbruck and Torino. Nevertheless, a professional approach to sport event management is mainly dominated by anglo-american experts.
This Project will capitalise on Sentedalps partners specific knowledge in this field to develop the Alpine Space in a sustainable way.
The total budget of the 3 years project (2003-2006) amounts to 1 Mio. EUR, 350.000 EUR are co-financed by the EU.
The Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration (IDHEAP) is the project leader and it cooperates with 16 public and private research institutes, local and regional public authorities and private organisations from Austria, France, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland.
