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European elections 1979: the first massive EU communication campaign

Turning points in history often go unnoticed; but the European Community did not want this to happen to the first direct EU elections ever held, forty-four years ago.

The elections were set for 1979 (from 7 to 10 June) and the EU institutions had to set up their biggest communication campaign (to date). As many things in the EU, the success was debatable, but it was a first step. The first step to keep moving EU communication forward. Or at least not backward. Standing still is also fine, actually.

The European Defense Community: a case of treaty interruptus

Jean Monnet, the architect of the European Union, linked his political future to the creation of a pan-European military force: before the ‘strategic autonomy’ mantra, there were a proposal, an agreement and a Treaty signed by the ‘inner six’ (27 May 1952). This is the story of the “European army”, a dream that could have been reality.

The first European Army

The planned European Defense Community (EDC) would have entailed a pan-European military: the Treaty of Paris establishing the EDC, signed in May 1952 (yes, there have been a hundred more treaties signed in Paris), established a EU co-force with a shared budget, common arms, centralized military procurement and #EUdefence institutions.

Memories of a Vestagiaire

DG MEME had the pleasure to interview Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for the Digital Market. She is one of the most hard-working and appreciated EU politicians: she blasted Google, Apple, Gazprom, the French and German governments, and many others. Despite such powerful opponents, she always managed to remain impartial and unbiased.

From left to right, assistant Paola d’Amecourt, EVP Margrethe Vestager, Rita Jonušaitė, Martina Tesseri, and DG Fabio Mauri, trying to hide that he is chewing a chocolate cookie.

Along the Baltic Way’s memory lane

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Brave, daring and adventurous are not the first adjectives that come to mind when thinking about EU functionaries; the tabloid narrative wants them to be boring people, who work the bare minimum and just wait for an undeserved retirement. To fight this negative stereotype, DG MEME created a special unit called STARS (Spry Tattlers of Ancient and Radiant Stories), with the specific aim of collecting truly inspiring stories from our colleagues.

Latvian and Lithuanian Flag along the Baltic Way © Andrius Petrulevičius

Season’s greetings

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While Belgium introduced COVID restrictions for Santa Claus (“he can come down the chimney but he must leave through the window, climbing down the gutter”), DG MEME was given a glimpse of a few last-minute letters to Santa from prominent European figures: