The 1977, 1978 and 1979 Information Programmes

Abstract

Assuming that direct elections would take place in 1978, in early 1976, the Commission began planning an information campaign for the elections which contained both centralized and decentralized elements, and involved inter-institutional co-operation with the EP. In the Commission, it was argued that the ‘pre-sensibilization’ phase should stress the ‘qualitative step’ direct elections represented for democratiz­ing the EC and giving people a chance to choose their kind of Community. In the EP, it was felt that this message could best be put across to the public during the closing stages of the campaign to emphasize the fact that all EC citizens would be voting more or less simultaneously.