3 December 2020

The autumn session of the Club of Venice, the two-day meeting bringing together more than eighty institutional representatives and public communication experts from all European countries, starts today by video conference.

In his opening speech Vincenzo Amendola, Minister for European Affairs declared that "COVID-19 has brought us to decisions that affect not only the ancient values of our Union but also fundamental choices for our future. I'm not only speaking about the crucial choices for European integration such as the common tax policy, the Next Generation EU plan or the monetary policy. The issue we need to address is that of the very founding identity of the Union face to the COVID-19 challenge."

"Communication at this stage — he stressed — is not only a tool for coping with our health needs, it is crucial to withstand the impact of such major challenges. That's not easy, because nowadays the forms of democratic participation are increasingly fast, which often creates and speed up fears. We need to combine this technology-driven acceleration that the globalization is experiencing with the defence of the identity card that Europe shows to the rest of the world, based on participation and the knowledge of decision-making processes, but also on the safeguard of the values of freedom and democracy."

In the opening session, Diana Agosti, Head of the Department for European Policies, Fabrizio Spada, Head of the European Parliament’s Information Office in Italy and Antonio Parenti, Head of the European Commission Representation in Italy, also took the floor.

The Municipality of Venice, which has been hosting the Club session for 34 years, was represented by the Councillor for Social Cohesion, Simone Venturini.

Stefano Rolando, founder and President of the Club of  Venice, presented the opening report.

In its two-day marathon the Club of Venice is addressing critical communication topics such as the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on communication strategies in Europe and Member States and the impact on communication of some major global crises, such as migration, climate change, geopolitical instability, terrorism and other hybrid threats.

The Club of Venice, founded in 1986, is an informal body bringing together institutional communication officers from EU Members States, candidate countries and the European institutions to discuss topics of common interest, compare information and communication strategies and exchange ideas and experiences on best operational practices. Member for Italy is the Department for European Policies, which is entrusted with coordinating communication on EU policies and activities in Italy.

The Club meets twice a year in plenary sessions and organizes thematic seminars periodically.