Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 02/2009

The ambivalent politicisation of European communication

Philippe ALDRIN, Jean-Michel UTARD

October 2008

Centre for European Political Sociology

Abstract

This article analyses the political stakes of the EU’s communication policy. The authors study the frictions between European institutions, mainly the Commission and Parliament, after the publication of the White Paper on a European Communication Policy, replacing them in the context of the representations, routines, and compromises that have historically structured the interinstitutional relationships about communication. This historical perspective enables them to show the long lasting and persistent attention of the European actors to the promotion of Europe, as well as the strength of logics of compromise on the politicisation of European communication.