CHANGING THE WAY THE EU INTERACTS WITH THE U.S.

The EU needs to change the way it interacts with the United States.The EU should develop a U.S. policy by reaching out to a broad spectrum of American society and doing much more public diplomacy to convince Americans outside the new administration to work with Europe on improving the state of the world. The EU has long promoted civil society dialogue in its relations with third countries. It now needs to apply this method to transatlantic relations, too.

1. EU public diplomacy now requires very new thinking, and new decision making structures.  
2. Create an EU Public Diplomacy Strategy Committee to centrally review and coordinate strategy.
3. Move public diplomacy from the margins to the center of  EU foreign policy making. Policy officials, public diplomacy officials should be at the table, working with other EU officials as policy is sculpted.
4. Foster increasingly meaningful relationship between the EU and U.S. journalists because they  can be highly effective, credible messengers. Therefore make time to brief  U.S. journalists , in order to build long term relationships.
5. Use the private sector more, because independent messengers can be more fluid in their ability to target and engage and persuade various audiences. Involving private sector participation adds to some extent a heat shield that can be useful when tackling controversial issues that might have negative political or diplomatic repercussions. Private messengers can engage in this kind of debate more often than EU officials can for fear of political backlash. Also media or entertainment spokespeople may be more likely to cooperate with private sources, such as NGOs than with an effort directly funded by the EU.
6. Establish a new European structure, probably within the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Committee on International Trade , that would be the focal point for these activities. Obviously, they would play a role in authorizing and appropriating resources for public diplomacy. It’s extremely important that the EP has a sense of ownership in this area.
7. Enhance activities in key areas. U.S. public opinion research, media studies, program evaluation and on and on.
8. The promise of EU’s  public diplomacy, has not been realized due to the lack of will, the absence of an overall strategy, a deficit of trained officials, cultural constraints, structural shortcomings, and a scarcity of resources. Strong leadership, imaginative thinking, planning and coordination are critical. Public diplomacy should be  a strategic instrument of EU foreign policy in this new world, and EU leaders must provide the sustained, coordinated and robust and effective diplomacy that the EU requires

In brief, the EU needs to strengthen its ability to engage with different audiences and stakeholders in the U.S. through Public Diplomacy. This will further develop the EU’s soft power by enhancing widespread understanding and visibility of the EU and its role on the world scene, through public diplomacy and outreach activities on issues relevant to the bilateral relations the United States. Additionally this project will support and strengthen the effectiveness of the EU’s foreign policy and other initiatives through Public Diplomacy activities and raise awareness of the EU’s foreign policy goals and to positively influence the perception of the EU as an active and effective player on a U.S. level through Public Diplomacy activities.