EURACTIV PR

An easy way of publishing your relevant EU press releases.

German Industry & Civil Society agree: EU-disintegration is not an option

Date

30 Sep 2011

Sections

InfoSociety
EU Priorities 2020

Results of a EurActiv survey of German stakeholders

Recently EurActiv.de, the German partner of EurActiv’s 15-partner European media network, together with the European Movement Germany asked some 400 German companies and associations about their stance on key European policy issues as well as the role that European media play in their day-to-day activities.

Querying German civil society and industry viewpoints on key European policy issues, the survey provides interesting findings. “Although 50 percent rate the future of the Union as problematic, Germany exiting or a disintegration of the Euro-zone is clearly not an option for the survey respondants”, stated Ewald König, Editor-in-Chief of EurActiv Germany. “When questioned about German politicians, Peer Steinbrück (SPD) is seen as the most likely candidate to take a leading role in Europe, well ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU). When looking at single policy areas, respondents mainly want more European cooperation on energy and environment. Somewhat surprisingly, more EU influence is requested in the field of financial and fiscal policy.” 

“EurActiv and the Financial Times are the best known media on European politics in Germany and are both used by more than 70% of survey respondents”, stated Pertti Hermannek, CEO of EurActiv Germany, the initiator of the “Europa Ungeschminkt” survey. “Providing balanced reporting on EU news and policy debates is indeed showing results, not just in Brussels but also in the countries where we have a local network partner”, added Christophe Leclercq, Founder and Publisher of EurActiv.

“Print media clearly loose importance. Only half of the stakeholders still use traditional information sources, while 70% rely on internet portals. Despite the increasing relevance of digital sources, the personal conversation is still the best way to express political positions think 85% of the respondents,” situated Mr. Hermannek the use of information sources and media channels in Germany. “72 percent of our respondents rate the role of Europe in their own company or association as high. Half of them have a European division in their company or maintain a representative office in Brussels. On the other hand this is not reflected in corporate communication: three quarters of the companies still focus on national communication and only one quarter has a European communication strategy”, he concluded.

The complete “Europa Ungeschminkt” survey results (German) can be found here

The survey was sent in May 2011 to some 200 members of the European Movement Germany as well as to some 200 companies and organizations with a European or international focus, all based in Germany. 139 organizations from different sectors and social groups participated in the indicative, non-scientific survey.

Media contacts:

Pertti Hermannek / Ann-Katrin Bohmüller, Marketing, EurActiv.de +49.30.2088.9003, p.hermannek@euractiv.de, a.bohmueller@euractiv.de

Ewald König, Editor-in-Chief, EurActiv.de +49.30.2060.5150, e.koenig@euractiv.de 

Dominique Ostyn, Senior Manager Communication & New Media +32(0)2.788.36.88, communication@euractiv.com 

Christophe Leclercq, Publisher, EurActiv.com, +32(0)2.226.58.13, publisher@euractiv.com

Note to the editor:   

www.EurActiv.com is the independent online media network dedicated to EU policy, counting 609,000 unique visitors monthly together with the Web 2.0 platform BlogActiv.eu. Set up in 1999, the network is an important working instrument for actors (institutions, industry federations, NGOs, think tanks, the press and others) involved in defining or influencing EU policies. The EurActiv Network publishes EU policy news and information in 15 languages from offices in the capitals of 15 European countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom and Turkey. The Network's national policy portals are accessible here

In order to provide free services and ensure independence, EurActiv's services are financed from four sources: corporate sponsoring, EurActor membership, online advertising and EU projects. General sponsors of www.EurActiv.com are: Assembly of European Regions / GE Energy, Enel, First Solar, the Nickel Institute, People First Foundation, United Technologies and VISA Europe. Section sponsors of www.EurActiv.com are: ArcelorMittal, Boeing, Camfil, Coca-Cola, Dow, Euro-ciett, ExxonMobil, General Electric, Honeywell, Microsoft, MSD, Swiss Mission to the EU, Trans Adriatic Pipeline, Unilever and Yara. Further supporters include: Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. 

EurActiv also has 60 “content partners” (NGOs & think tanks) as well as ca. 500 “contributors”, providing their policy positions for free publication, based on EurActiv's editorial discretion. Input welcome: editor@euractiv.com. EurActiv content extracts can be re-used freely by other media, subject to clear attribution, and copy sent to content@euractiv.com