THE EUROPEAN UNION AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

The European Union is in a great position for the practice of ‘soft power’ to try to attract through its founding principles, and influence the world on its own vision. (La Porte, T. 2011) The problem is that the EU has not really concentrated efforts as a whole on public diplomacy, but all member states individually have their own public diplomacy programs and present a diverse message of the EU. Even though EU’s image in the world is hugely positive, it still lacks a coherent message as a whole, agreed upon by member states, and therefore a consistently communicated message. (Missiroli, A. 2005) The EU, because of its diverse membership of nations, presents itself to the world as having ‘unity in diversity’, but yet lacks a unified approach to public diplomacy, even though the potential of the EU for its own specific public diplomacy could be endless due to its co-operative character. The EU therefore needs to acknowledge the need for a unified approach in order to be able to realize its full potential on the international arena. (Fiske De Gouveia, P. & Plumridge, H. 2005)

In order to further one’s national interests, governments usually conduct public diplomacy, and EU member states are no different as they continuously individually conduct their own public diplomacy to further their national interests. Even though the EU is built on co-operation in different areas, public diplomacy is one area that seems to have been left behind. (Fiske De Gouveia, P. & Plumridge, H. 2005) The issue with not co-operating more closely together in the area of public diplomacy, means that public diplomacy conducted by member states individually might consist of completely different messages of the EU and therefore cancel each other out. The suggestions therefore aren’t that member states should completely abandon their own public diplomacy campaigns, but rather increase co-operation in this area to get the most out of them and produce a unified front. (Ibid.) More emphasis on EU’s own specific public diplomacy is essential especially when dealing with countries outside of Europe. As a matter of fact, even inside the EU, its own citizens are often confused about the EU and the way it functions, so how could the people outside the EU know or understand its role and institutions, what matters and what the EU stands for. Better common and coherent EU public diplomacy could therefore not only be good to promote the EU outside of Europe, but also to build up a better understanding of it inside its own borders. (Ibid.)

The EU is engaged in many projects trying to project its image and information on its institutions in countries outside of Europe, but this is more of an information campaign rather than public diplomacy. (La Porte, T. 2009) This is all well and good, but for the EU to truly realize its potential and effectively work in the international arena, to influence and attract, it needs to gather member states and create a consistent and coherent message to portray, and enhance co-operation in the area of public diplomacy campaigns of member states to ensure that the EU message is clear. “The US makes offers we cannot refuse; the EU makes offers we cannot understand!”, was stated by a Middle Eastern Diplomat. (Lynch, D. 2005)

References:

- Fiske De Gouveia, Philip & Plumridge, Hester (2005) European Infopolitik: Developing EU Public Diplomacy Strategy. The Foreign Policy Center. Available from: http://fpc.org.uk/fsblob/657.pdf Accessed: 22.3.2011

- La Porte, Teresa (2009) The Public Diplomacy of the EU. USC Center on Public Diplomacy, September 24. Available from: http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/index.php/events/events_detail/7287/ Accessed: 22.3.2011

- La Porte, Teresa (2011) The Power of the European Union in Global Governance: A proposal for a New Public Diplomacy. Los Angeles: Figueroa Press. Available from: http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/publications/perspectives/CPDPerspectivesEUPower.pdf Accessed: 23.3.2011

- Lynch, Dov (2005) Communicating Europe to the World: What Public Diplomacy for the EU? European Policy Center, Working Paper No. 21. Available from: http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?fecvnodeid=110616&ord588=grp1&fecvid=33&ots591=0c54e3b3-1e9c-be1e-2c24-a6a8c7060233&lng=en&v33=110616&id=16968 Accessed: 22.3.2011

- Missiroli, Antonio. Stand and Deliver: The European Message Abroad from Lynch, Dov (2005) Communicating Europe to the World: What Public Diplomacy for the EU? European Policy Center, Working Paper No. 21. Available from: http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?fecvnodeid=110616&ord588=grp1&fecvid=33&ots591=0c54e3b3-1e9c-be1e-2c24-a6a8c7060233&lng=en&v33=110616&id=16968 Accessed: 22.3.2011