A more balanced view of Europe in the Netherlands?

According to TripAdvisor travellers, Brussels is the most boring city of Europe. East European labour migrants have found a temporary home in a former British air force base in Germany. Lobbyists have a great deal of influence over members of the European Parliament. Three random reports concerning Europe that cannot be indicated as hot items. Nevertheless, they could be found recently in different editions of NRC Handelsblad, one of the Dutch quality newspapers. The intention of this kind of reporting is clear: Europe is much more than an abstraction or the domain of government officials – it is also a citizen’s domain, our domain, about which we have to be informed properly.

In the Netherlands, there are five daily newspapers with a circulation of about 100.000 or more (apart from the free papers distributed at train and bus stations): Trouw (98.000), NRC Handelsblad (235.000), de Volkskrant (275.000), Algemeen Dagblad (516.000) en De Telegraaf (673.000). A quick scan of these papers learns us that the coverage of European and European Union affairs varies greatly. It is no surprise that the two quality papers NRC Handelsblad and de Volkskrant deal with European affairs rather extensively. Of course, correspondents, journalists and editors report on questions of the day, for example on a European meeting of heads of state and prime ministers or of ministers of Foreign Affairs or Finance. A number of the aforementioned papers have daily opinion pages, on which university professors, journalists, lobbyists and civil workers discuss about topical issues, for example, the European constitution and its aftermath, and the EU membership of Turkey and Serbia. Europe-related news and background reports can also be found on the websites of the daily papers.

Since one year and a half, however, NRC Handelsblad deals every Thursday with all kinds of Europe-related issues. This special page, entitled The Netherlands & Europe, contains large articles and tiny reports about items as product innovation, immigrant workers, lobbyists in Brussels, TradeMarks, the position of the president of the European Council, women in member countries and so on. For those interested in European affairs, this is a highly recommendable page. Connected to this is the website of NRC Handelsblad dealing with European affairs, with news and, last but not least, the complete texts of recently released EU-reports and other materials.
In the last few years, a number of interesting books has been released in the Netherlands on European affairs or Europe-related issues as well. Just some examples: Paleis Europa; grote denkers over Europa, edited by Leonard Ornstein and Lo Breemer, in which six great thinkers reveal their opinions on a number of European themes. Former Commission civil servant Derk Jan Eppink revealed his thoughts about the Commission in Europese mandarijnen. Achter de schermen van de Europese Commissie. In May 2007 and May 2008 respectively, the Dutch Centraal Planbureau and the Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau released two interesting reports, in the series Europese Verkenning (Exploring Europe), entitled Marktplaats Europa, Vijftig jaar publieke opinie en marktintegratie in de Europese Unie (about public opinion and market integration) and Europa’s buren. Europees nabuurschapsbeleid en de publieke opinie over de Europese Unie (about public opinion and Europe’s neighbours). These publications (and many more) contribute to the possibility of getting informed on Europe and European affairs in the Netherlands.

Paradoxically, this interest seems to be enhanced after the Dutch repudiation of the European constitution in June, 2005. But that’s only one part of the story - it concerns people trying to promote or obstruct European integration more intensively with arguments and discussion. For many people, however, Europe remains a distasteful abstraction or a faraway bureaucracy – in these cases, school education and information in newspapers, on websites and television can contribute to a more balanced view of Europe.

Harm Ramkema, IPP, the Netherlands