The Local Communication Flow as Strategic Resource in the Construction of a European Public Sphere,

In the building of relationships between Europe and national Governments, the local dimension is becoming a strategic stake and a crucial issue for the main European Institutions and their Political and Communication strategies. The local dimension could be a crucial place for the European Institution to reduce the democratic gap in European citizenship. There are many signs of this trend, the most crucial is that the EU Communication Policy has placed the local dimension at the core of Brussels strategies to fill up both the gap between citizens and European Institutions and overcome opposition by national Member States. One of the main aims of the White Paper on Communication (2006) is to reach citizens in their own territories encouraging the development of a European public sphere at the local level. This contribution has the aim to confirm that local communication strategies for EU institutions may be an opportunity to reduce this gap and to curb to an unsatisfactory national public discourse addressed to Europe.