The “Interacting with the European Parliament” initiative

Engaging the citizens in defining the EU common goals and policies through encouraging them to participate in a Europe-wide debate – this is the main objective of the “Interacting with the European Parliament” communication campaign, implemented in various languages through the internet-platform http://parliament.europe.bg by the European Institute Foundation, the Center for Policy Modernization, Europe Gateway and Radio Bulgaria – BNR.

With this initiative, the team’s priority is to facilitate the communication between the civil society and the EU institutions, the Members of the European Parliament in particular.

Together with the campaign’s products such as online-discussions, analytical articles, thematic radiobroadcasts, public debates and educative publications, the website http://parliament.europe.bg is set to be an interactive mediator between the voters and the elected on all the topical issues on the European agenda. Our team is determined to clarify the European Union’s institutional organization and, within it, the specific place and role, played by the European Parliament to the project’s target audiences, focusing on how its decisions are echoing both on the citizens’ everyday life and on the global geopolitical processes.

Our target audience is wide, multilingual and coming from various European countries. We pay particular attention on the academia representatives, the young people, the blogosphere, the media and the CSOs. The project addresses not only the EU Member States but also the citizens of the Western Balkans countries – Croatia, Turkey, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia.

“Interacting with the European Parliament” is implemented in the framework of a project, approved under the EP’s 2009 Annual Grant Program through the Parliament’s Directorate General “Communication” and its duration is of sixteen months. “Interacting with the European Parliament” naturally succeeds to its predecessor – the “Now – interacting with the European Parliament!” initiative, implemented in 2008 again with the financial support of the EP’s DG “Communication”. The already established partnerships continue in a sustainable way – with networks such as PASOS, CHALLENGE, the Balkan Communication Network, the Local Development Booster, as well as with the Europe Direct Information Centers.