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European Union political and media theater - Behind the scenes in Brussels and the European Council by Mauro Bottaro
The European Union has already delved deep into the single member States’ internal economic mechanisms and it seems to be growing in political terms, as it wants to establish itself as a sovereign entity. This perception of the European Union, as a genuine national concern which should be for all people to get involved in, is really only delegated to the national media present during the important decisive institutional moments. There it becomes apparent how natural it is to have a great array of national opinions and stances, all still quite far from the European Institutions intentions of unity and stability. Even if the media is not officially a European institution, journalists and media operators certainly play an enormous role of filter between the steps of the EU constitutional progress and the single nations’ attitudes towards Europe as a supranational political entity. The idea behind the images proposed is to take a look behind the scenes of what usually comes from the media during the official meetings in the EU’s palaces. Official hand shakes and press conferences are looked at from a different angle and stripped of what is the final judgement or conclusion taken from the particular meeting. Because the EU is still in process of becoming a truly solid reference for “Europeans”, the actors involved in these processes are often passer bys and temporary, like the media correspondents so are the politicians involved. The only truly unmoving parts of the European Council remain the national briefing rooms, which sit empty for the majority of the time, like small abandoned theatres. They remain there for each country and national leader to play their part to their nation and determine which role they decide to play in Europe.
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