Dale Carnegie’s “How to win friends and influence people” was written in 1936 and published in 1937- 76 years ago. It should be the first book that any aspiring public policy advocate, any politician, any leader should read and apply in his/her daily work. Dale Carnegie reminds us that the use of the principles, techniques, rules can be made habitual only by a constant and vigorous application of review and application. There is no one way. The principles, the techniques, the rules must be applied at every opportunity. If you don’t you will forget them quickly.

The official run-up to the 2014 European elections started on 10 September 2013, when the European Parliament launched its awareness and information campaign. This campaign will continue beyond the elections themselves, until the newly-elected Parliament in turn elects the next European Commission President.

The campaign will have four phases.

Phase one starts now, with the presentation of the baseline ACT.REACT.IMPACT. This phase aims to explain the European Parliament’s new powers and their implications for people living in the EU.

In 2011 African countries were awarded 43% of the development aid by the EU and the EU Member States. This equated to EUR 25.3 billions.

Largest contributors of the total development aid amount granted were the following:

According to the European Parliament Eurobarometer of 21 August 2013 'One year to go until the 2014 European Elections', the levels of citizens interested in European politics is falling. A majority of respondents say they have no interest in European politics, while a little more than 4 in 10 say they take an interest.

Here below are the results (June 2013) of those taking an interest in European Affairs by Member States: