IRISH TIMES 4.2.09
EU publicity campaign to target Lisbon No voters
JAMIE SMYTH in Strasbourg
THE EUROPEAN Commission is spending ?1.8 million on a communications
strategy to target Irish women, young people and low-income families
with information about the EU.
Blogging, cinema advertising, listening exercises and advertising in
women's and youth magazines are key parts of a 12 month EU-Ireland
information plan, which specifically targets segments of the public
that voted in large numbers against the Lisbon Treaty.
"The representation wishes to communicate with the general population
and in that context, specifically with target groups within the
general population," says a call for tender for a public relations
agency to run the campaign.
"These target groups comprise: younger people in the 16-30 age
bracket; women of all ages; lower-income families and individuals."
The tender does not mention the prospect of a second Lisbon
referendum this year, focusing instead on the need to provide public
information on matters emanating from the EU and how it affects daily
life.
But Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald yesterday strongly criticised the
EU tender, which she said amounted to "propaganda" and taking a "hard
sell" approach to Lisbon.
"To me it seems the commission is targeting groups identified with
voting No to Lisbon in the last referendum. This new strategy does
not amount to dialogue but rather propaganda to influence an expected
referendum later this year," said Ms McDonald, who was one of the
leaders of the No campaign in the first referendum.
Research conducted by the commission in Ireland a few days after the
first Lisbon referendum last June showed young people between the
ages of 15 and 29 voted against the treaty by a factor of two to one.
A majority of women also voted against the treaty while a majority of
men voted in favour.
Separate research compiled for the Government by Millward Brown
confirmed these findings while also noting that the biggest No vote
came from the lower-income group where 65 per cent voted against the
treaty.
The commission yesterday rejected any suggestion that its Irish
communications strategy was part of a campaign to get the Lisbon
Treaty passed in a second referendum.
"There will be no advocacy or publicity campaign ahead of the second
referendum," said Joe Hennon, spokesman for EU communications
commissioner Margot Wallstrom. He said any additional resources
diverted to Ireland would be in response to the conclusions of the
Oireachtas special joint subcommittee's report, which identified
serious lacunae in communications on Europe in Ireland. He said any
extra resources would be for several years and would aim to address
the problem of a lack of knowledge about the EU.
The closing date for the tender is February 24th and the
communications strategy is expected to be rolled out as soon as the
contract is signed. Last year the commission spent about ?650,000 on
a communications plan in Ireland. Senior commission legal sources
said they do not envisage any of the activities in the ?1.8 million
plan would fall foul of the rules regarding public spending during a
referendum campaign.
The tender document says the maximum amount to be spent on organising
listening events such as seminars is ?500,000; on internet social
networking, ?500,000; and on cinema advertising, ?800,000. It also
specifies that the contractor must attend regularly weekly meetings
with the commission to report on actions taken under the contract;
present reports on the listening activities; and update on web strate
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