Communication Strategy for the Preparation
of
The integration of
This is a favourable and
encouraging fact, but the experience and the logic of earlier waves of EU enlargement indicate that the further away from
membership a concrete country has been, the higher the support in society, and
accordingly with the progress of the negotiations, this support decreased to a
greater or lesser extent. The more real the accession became,
the more tangibly the realities having both a positive and restrictive
characters are experienced.
The task of the Communications
Strategy is to put both on the scales in the public space and to give an
opportunity to every social subject (institutional, group and individual) to
become aware of the domination of the positive aspects of the process. The
Communications Strategy is not a parallel process, but a dialogue with society
and a way of guaranteeing its active position.
The analysis of the concrete
situation in what has been done to popularise the European integration in
society and to present
Strong points:
· The support for membership
in Bulgarian society is very high.
· Governmental and
non-governmental organisations have been working for a long time for the
accession of the country to the EU.
· There exist qualified
specialists who are engaged in these activities.
· There exists a
well-developed system for mass communication.
· Information centres on matters related to the European integration are
functioning and enjoy public prestige.
Weak points:
· The support for membership is rather abstract and the citizens do not
perceive many of the real problems connected with the actual membership.
· The accession of the country to EU is still
perceived more as a commitment and responsibility basically of the
administration, whereas society remains aside from the process.
· There is insufficiently effective communication among the different
institutions (governmental, non-governmental, EC Delegation and embassies of
the
· The messages of European integration are presented almost exclusively by
political figures – the potential of the experts in the various fields is not
sufficiently utilised (the working groups on the negotiations).
· The available communications network – the newsletters and the Internet
sites of the different institutions – are not sufficiently effectively
utilised. They offer too few opportunities for feedback from the citizens.
· The interests and the information needs of concrete groups in society
are relatively little known.
· The viewpoint of the administration itself is directed basically to work
with the institutions of EU and to the
· The public debate on European integration is too week and unilateral. It
focuses on the candidacy of
· Important topics for the European Union itself, of the type of the
debate on the future of the EU, are not contemplated
and discussed.
· Work with the different social groups, depending on their direct
interests, is not sufficient and these groups are not sufficiently clearly
identified.
· The communications channels are too centralised – work in the regions
and locally is not sufficient.
· The information on the available projects and on the conditions for
applying under them is relatively insufficient and ineffectively addressed,
which is also one of the reasons for the poor absorption of these funds.
· The funds for such activities are insufficient.
· There is almost total lack of information materials in foreign languages
on the candidacy of
· The work with the foreign media to attract their attention to
· There are relatively few events intended for popularising
These facts face us with the need
of raising the issue about the communication on European integration on another
principle. If until now it has been the main foreign policy goal, our present
priority is to present it before society as a daily domestic policy issue,
i.e., the messages of the European integration of Bulgaria need to be
translated and addressed to the citizens in a comprehensible language and in
the context of their real, daily dimension regarding the individual citizen.
With the advancing and
acceleration of the course of
The implementation of such a type
of communications policy would not only meet the need of information about what
EU membership means for every citizen, but it would
also lend democratic legitimacy to the process itself.
The EU
enlargement should involve the entire society, not only the state
administration. This means that it would be of utmost importance to start a
debate simultaneously on the benefits and risks of membership, so as to meet
the concerns of every citizen, which would inevitably arise with the increase
in the public awareness of society.
Vision – the Bulgarian and the
international communities actively support
1.
GOAL
The implementation of the Communications Strategy is aimed at bringing the
Bulgarian citizens closer to the everyday dimension of EU
membership, while at the same time targeted efforts are needed for increasing
the knowledge of European citizens about
NATIONAL plan – directed inwards
to Bulgarian society with the aim of explaining and bringing the Bulgarian
citizens closer to the “European idea” of
INTERNATIONAL plan - directed to the citizens of the 15 EU
Member States, as well as to the nationals of the countries from the first wave
of the enlargement, with a view to increasing the supporters of
The EU
institutions themselves are conducting a campaign on a large scale among the
citizens of the Member States for raising the support for EU
enlargement, which means that
The significance of such a
popularising campaign is tremendous for the actual course of the negotiations,
for attracting foreign investors, as well as for improving the overall image of
Specific aims
On a national plan, the Communications Strategy pursues the following aims:
· To explain what the EU is;
· To explain what the benefits of membership are;
· To explain in advance what changes would occur upon acquiring full
membership;
· To disseminate objective information about the EU
and about its Member States in
· To explain the results of the accession of
· To explain the connection between the pace of the preparation for
membership and the process of negotiations;
· To motivate the more active participation of the Bulgarians in the
process of integration and in the debate on the future of
· To explain the decisions of the state institutions, connected with the
process of accession, and thus to guarantee their support;
· To prepare all professional circles in
· To clarify the price which
· To improve the public knowledge and understanding of the pre-accession
programmes of the EU and to motivate all partners for
a more active participation in the processes of programming, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of the pre-accession instruments of the EU.
On an international plan, the
Communications Strategy has the following aims:
· To win the support and the positive attitude of the broadest possible
layers of society in the
· To assist the negotiations for accession through a campaign informing
about the progress and creating a favourable climate for the completion of the
negotiations;
· To disseminate and find supporters for the Bulgarian position in the
debate on the future of
· To contribute to the successful ratification of the agreement for
The methods, the intensity and the content of the popularising initiatives
should be differentiated in the different EU
countries depending on:
а)
the degree of support for the idea of EU enlargement
in the different member states;
b) the political, economic and social consequences for the respective states;
c) the role of a certain country in the EU.
2.
CHARACTER
From the very beginning after the identification of the need of such a
strategy, its general outlook and partners, it is necessary to identify its
character as well. The Strategy should be:
Decentralised – the information
and the communication should try to cover as much as possible of the country's
territory, especially bearing in mind that at present is it basically
concentrated in
Flexible – the actual process of negotiations is very dynamic, as well as the
movement of public opinion, hence the Strategy should be in a position to
respond to changes and to include new messages. This means that the Strategy
and the immediate Action Plan need to be updated every year.
Involving dialogue – since this is
a governmental strategy, it should be in a position to coordinate and unite the
efforts of all institutions that are currently already making efforts to
popularise and explain the European integration. In other words, it is of prime
importance for the implementation of the Strategy to build a network of key
figures and institutions actually participating in it.
3.
MEASURES FOR ATTAINING THE AIMS
In order to make such a type of political message acceptable to the broad
public, it should be presented in a suitable, understandable and accessible
form. They define the following main elements of the campaign:
1. Mobilising of available resources
· the press offices of the respective
institutions;
· appointing a person to be responsible for the Communications
Strategy in the working groups on the different chapters of the negotiations
with the EU.
2. Use of planned and implemented initiatives of other organisations and
institutions
· Joint events with the EC Delegation or with non-governmental
organisations;
· Expert meetings on the different chapters of the negotiations.
3. Training of the working team
4. Work with the target groups
· At national level
Persons with a high prestige (opinion leaders) are representatives of
differently constituted groups, sufficiently numerous or sufficiently
significant to society, so that their involvement with the EU
cause to be of importance for the success of the campaign in the group whose
representatives they are.
These are:
teachers and university lecturers;
officials in the state administration;
leaders of major organisations and parties;
journalists;
representatives of all religions;
university students;
representatives of business.
Motivated as co-participants in the campaign, they can assist in raising the
general level of knowledge about the EU over a
relatively short period of time.
Large social communities
The campaign should highlight a concrete positive aspect of the accession or to
focus attention on the prevention or elimination of any apprehensions connected
with the European integration of
professional,
age‚
political,
ethnic,
religious,
social.
These groups are also the first targets to which the campaign is to be
directed. These are the groups in which a specialised interest in information
about the EU has been identified.
· At international level
Participants in the process of negotiations:
High-ranking politicians;
Close advisers to these politicians;
Representatives of advisory institutions;
Political parties.
Circles shaping the public opinion in the Member States, notably:
Journalists;
Teachers and university lecturers;
Research institutes and political foundations;
Churches (in some countries);
Representatives of the embassies of the Member States and of the missions of
international organisations in
Leaders of public organisations (political, professional,
business associations, regional), pressure groups and expert groups.
Broad circles of society in the Member States
The influence of third parties on decision-making in the EU,
as well as on the formation of the position of the individual Member States,
should not be underestimated. On this basis, the campaign should have a fourth
target as well: the circles shaping public opinion outside the EU (other states of strategic importance and influential
international organisations).
5. Partners
It is of enormous significance for this Strategy to be
conducted in close cooperation with the non-governmental organisations and
social partners in the country.
Another key partner in the
implementation of the Strategy should be the EC Delegation in
Of particular importance is also
the coordination with the presidential institution, with the Committee on
European integration of the National Assembly and with the Council on European
Integration with the Council of Ministers on the implementation of the Strategy.
6. Communications techniques
At present there are many institutions and organisations, which use many of the
techniques for dissemination of information to the citizens in
At national level
· Information centres on European problems (including those aimed at
concrete EU programmes);
· Publications on the European theme (books, brochures, newspapers,
magazines and journals, bulletins and newsletters, Internet);
· Radio and television broadcasts;
· Meetings and discussions with representatives of target groups.
At international level
· Events at the level of official institutions and non-governmental
organisations at national and regional levels;
· Special events dedicated to
· Advertising materials about
· Establishing information centres in
4. IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE AIMS SET
· Financing
The implementation of the Strategy will be financed
with funds from the national budget for each concrete year jointly with the PHARE Programme. It is also necessary to establish special
funds raised from the private sector for promoting
For this purpose, funds should be
allocated every year from the national budget for the implementation of this
Strategy. It is necessary to activate the available resource provided by the
European Commission from the PHARE budget for a
Multi-Country Information and Communication Programme, controlled by the EC
Delegation in
It is necessary to seek financing from the EU Member
States individually and from other potential donors.
· Organisational structure
It is necessary to create a general structure – Council on European
Communications – under the auspices of the Chief Negotiator, whose main
responsibilities are to be strategic planning and permanent monitoring of the
implementation, with the obligation to undertake the necessary measures in the
event of a change in the current situation (mostly on the basis of regular
reports of the main participants in the Strategy and of the results of
sociological surveys). Two subgroups are built within the frameworks of this
unified structure:
At national level – in its
capacity of chief coordinating body, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs forms a
working group consisting of representatives of the principal institutions and
organisations, which are to implement the Strategy. This group is to meet
regularly every month. For the purpose, a special unit needs to be established
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deal with the coordination of the
campaign conducted. This structure is to take shape within the frameworks of
the European Integration Directorate and is to consist initially of four
persons in the European Secretariat and Coordination Department.
It is necessary to build a network
of contact persons and institutions responsible for the implementation of the
Strategy in the respective institution. These persons are to be responsible for
the rhythmic and accurate supply of information by the respective institution
or organisation about the policy pursued on European integration issues. They
will be authorised to answer questions of the media and to assist them in
obtaining information. Such persons need to be identified by each press centre,
as well as by the working groups on the separate chapters in the negotiations
with EU. They need to be in constant contact and
cooperation with the coordinating unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
to participate in the working group;
At international level - the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the chief coordinator through the established
unit in the European Integration Directorate, whereby the actual implementation
of the Strategy is to be done on the spot in the respective Member States
through the Bulgarian missions and embassies abroad. Each of them is to propose
a concrete Action Plan in the countries, depending on the concrete
specificities of these countries and taking into account the general priorities
of the Strategy for presenting and popularising the image of
Both principal elements of the
Strategy are to be implemented through direct and permanent connection with all
state and private institutions, which participate and are interested in the
attaining of this goal.
The campaign is to be conducted also in close cooperation with the EC
Delegation and with the embassies of the EU Member
States in
· Stages
Each of the stages of the campaign needs to be
directly linked to the implementation of the National Strategy for
The first stage of the campaign
coincides with the period of intensive negotiations for membership; therefore
its main goal should be to bring the citizens closer to the measures undertaken
by the government in this direction. It is necessary to prepare society in
advance for the actions undertaken, some of which are not popular. The focus
should be on the long-term positive effect of these measures for the living
standards of the individual citizen. It is very important at this stage to send
messages before the occurrence of a concrete event in order to prepare public
opinion.
The first stage should end in
2003, together with the completion of the accession negotiations of the
country.
The second stage should focus on
generating positive public attitudes to the future membership and involvement
of a broad circle of society in the debate on the future of Europe and on
The final date is connected with
the real accession of
The third stage aims at explaining
the rights and obligations stemming from our full membership. It is necessary
to keep up the interest of the public in the theme, as well as to combine and
intensify the messages from the first two phases.
With a view to drafting a concrete
Action Plan until 2006, an assignment will be given to each state and private
institution to give a description of its activities for the respective year and
then on the basis of the generalisation and systematisation of the entire
information to plan priority activities for every calendar year. This plan will
take into account the national priorities for the respective year and in the
different sectors (depending on the chapters in the negotiations that are to be
opened or closed, the short-term reforms that need to be introduced and
imminent unpopular measures). The concrete plan will be drafted with deadlines
and commitments of the concrete institutions and organisations, which will be
responsible for its implementation.
The annual updating of this document is assigned to the coordinating
institution - the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - with the assistance and
cooperation of all participants from the governmental and non-governmental
sectors.
5. MONITORING AND EVALUATION
The need to establish such a
practice stems both from the fact that it should serve as the basis for shaping
the image of the campaign‚ and in view of the need for it to be updated already
in the course of its implementation. The effectiveness of the Strategy
introduced can be checked precisely with such regular studies both within the
frameworks of society as a whole‚ and among its individual parts. It is
necessary to use also the results of similar studies in the different Member
States on the attitudes to the Bulgarian candidacy with the help of our
missions abroad (Eurobarometer). The image of the
campaign and the changes in its line should be determined in accordance with
the results of these studies.
Such studies should be assigned
regularly as a part of the obligations of the coordinating institution and
their results should be used for updating the priorities of the Strategy for a
concrete period of time.