COMMUNICATION - Juncker talks to citizens, DG COMM backs up with solid reading matter

Jean-Claude Juncker was seemingly not afraid of anything: just three days after the terrorist attacks in Paris, the Commission President honoured his commitment to attend a Citizens' Dialogue in central Brussels. For one hour, President Juncker listened to the audience, answered their questions and had a frank and forthright exchange of views on the issues of most concern to the majority of Europeans. In the city's beautiful 'Bozar' concert hall, designed by Belgium's famous architect Victor Horta, around 850 citizens were given the opportunity to meet the Commission's highest representative. Out in the lobby, DG COMM's Citizens' Information Unit handed out some of the Commission's publications to participants.

date: 02/12/2015

Audience of the Citizens' Dialogue with President Juncker As expected, migration and terrorism were high on the agenda. "I refuse to accept this connection between terrorists and refugees just as I refuse to accept a division between religions", Juncker stated. He added: "I would also like to see all Member States doing what they have actually promised to do. It's a question of credibility", the President insisted.

Jean-Claude Juncker's dialogue was the highlight of a whole day given over to debates and concerts in the Bozar, jointly organised by the Nouvel Observateur weekly, the Brussels-based daily newspapers Le Soir and De Standaard, and the Commission Representation in Belgium. Colleagues from the Citizens' Information Unit staffed a presentation stand of Commission publications for participants. "This is one of our bestsellers", Angeliki Kallianou explained to a visitor, pointing out the "How the EU works" brochure. A gentleman tried to pay for his copy before Angeliki pointed out that all of the publications on offer were free of charge. The gentleman subsequently took two copies.

Patricia pushing the pallet Angeliki, her colleague Patricia Speybrouck and Blue Book trainee Jania Silva (see main photo) selected five different products for distribution at the prestigious venue: President Juncker's recent 'State of the Union' speech, the brand new 'Ten priorities for Europe' brochure, the aforementioned 'How the EU works' and the ever popular 'Travelling in Europe 2015-16' map leaflet. Most were distributed in French, Dutch and German, Belgium's three national languages, and English. At the end, over 3 000 publications had been distributed.