Looking for EU identities: communicating the EU job market

The blow dealt in 2005 by the outcome of the French and Dutch referendums to European constitutional process triggered a dramatic review of European institutional communication. The idea that the gap between Brussels and European citizens was related to ineffective communication models was already clearly stated by the European Commission Vice – President Margot Wallström in 2004: We need to explain what exactly it is we do. We want to reach out ... We will use images and faces of real people who can explain in language that is not full of Eurojargon. There are so many problems that can’t be solved by the nation-state. We have not been good at saying that (interview to Herald Tribune, December 22, 2004). In June 2005, the European Council declared the start a ‘period of reflection’, during which a broad debate on Europe took place in each European country, involving citizens, civil society, social partners, national Parliaments and political parties. Since then, a properly conceived communication policy has become an essential element to the creation of a distinctive European identity. The goal of this paper is to extend the scope of other scholarly investigations on European communication strategies (e.g. Valentini-Nesti 2010) to the way in which European institutions represent the job market. This paper will be focused on Social Agenda, a traditional quarterly paper magazine published by the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (in French, German and English) since 2002 and virtually addressed to all European citizens in working age.