Communication Strategy of the EU for Best Practice and Policy Recommendations

Abstract

The present deliverable provides a comprehensive summary of the most important findings of all the deliverables produced by the participants of our four-year multidisciplinary research project called ‘Reconciling Europe with its Citizens through Democracy and the Rule of Law’ (RECONNECT). What follows is not a simple compilation of the results of our research. It is more than that. Our aim is to provide a manual that EU policy-makers can use to better engage with EU citizens. Therefore, in each chapter, after having briefly discussed the main findings of our research, we highlight some key messages and formulate recommendations addressed specifically to EU policy-makers to help them build a communication strategy and put in place policy measures that aim to bring the EU closer to its citizens.

RECONNECT sought to evaluate the coherence within and between democracy and the Rule of Law, how these are interpreted and applied across the EU and its Member States, and how potential inconsistencies may affect legitimacy in the EU (principles and practices). RECONNECT also aimed to assess the extent to which democracy and the Rule of Law fail to resonate with European citizens, questioning how this may impact upon the legitimacy of the European project (perceptions). These different aims are also reflected in the structure of the present study: in each subchapter we first discuss the findings of our work on principles and practices, then we summarize the results of our research on perceptions and finally, we formulate our key messages and recommendations addressed to EU policy- makers