When the European Commission starts talking about a plan to "connect the EU with its citizens" you know that something supremely ridiculous is about to happen. Poster competitions are one popular device, but the Commission on one occasion even tried wowing Europeans by sending a copy of the draft EU constitution into space.

This month Brussels will unleash its latest drive to befriend the alienated citizen - and for once it has actually come up with an idea that is simple, innovative and that promises to do some lasting good.

On January 22, hundreds of European Commission officials will fan out across Germany, the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, where they are supposed to revisit their old schools. They are supposed to meet and talk to students, explain what they do for a living, what the Commission and the EU is all about and why European integration is, broadly speaking, a good thing.

The Commission has done little more than to give its staff the day off, and will pay the officials’ expenses and help with background material and organising meetings with the local media. Officials have not been prepped, or handed talking points. In fact, all over Brussels you will currently find German Commission officials rehearsing their speeches, preparing for questions or simply mulling the rather ambitious task of selling the EU to a bunch of teenagers.

Undoubtedly, some of them will be boring, and others plain awful. There is now surer way of sending a classroom of 16-year olds to sleep than by launching into a speech on subsidiarity, comitology and better regulation. Unfortunately, there is a fair number of Brussels officials who find it difficult to communicate without resorting to Eurospeak.

But judging from the time and effort that some of my German friends at the Commission are putting into their presentations, quite a few may actually end up leaving a decent impression. Most have decided to give just a brief talk, and are hoping that inviting questions will then allow them to dispel some of the more persistent myths about the EU, while highlighting some of its genuine achievements.

The fact that there is a direct link between the audience and the official visiting the school is certain to help. After all, the perceived "facelessness" of the Brussels machine is clearly one of the most significant problems faced by a Commission desperate to rally popular support for its initiatives.

Besides, spending an hour or two chatting informally to a European Commission official is certain to be more popular with your average student than reading yet another dreary textbook detailing the EU’s democratic deficit or running through Robert Schuman’s early years.

I am certainly curious to hear how this experiment will work out. If the feedback is positive, the Commission should not hesitate to extend the programme to other countries.

January 8th, 2007 in Britain | Permalink