Writing an article on the death of bees I discovered (whaddayaknow – you can actually learn stuff at work), that the death of this puny little insect would have a tremendous impact on Europe's food production and environmental stability.

The logic behind it is pretty fool-proof. Bees are the Barry White of the plant world. Most plants are pollinated by them. No plants means no food. Obvious, really.

But what can the EP do about it?

For starters, the EP called on EU countries to pool their research on disease prevention and research funding should also be increased. Rules on veterinary products for honeybees should be made more flexible and incentives should be provided to pharmaceutical companies to develop new products to treat diseases such as the Varroa mite. Another factor affecting bee health is the presence of toxic agents, such as pesticides, so training should be provided to reduce their use.

Roughly 80% of plant species and food production in Europe depends on pollination by bees and more than 600,000 EU citizens work in the beekeeping sector (directly or indirectly).

Not bad for a buzzing little thing smaller than a bottle cap.

Are you sure they won’t ask about my banking credentials? I asked. With bankers, you never know. Like doctors taking your pulse at any handshake, bankers, I feel, can’t help checking your (credit card) balance as soon as they meet you. To my relief, they were not real bankers – they were Communication and Internet experts from the European Central Bank and other 27 Member States national banks. Colleagues, indeed, doing similar job as ours with constraints not so far away from ours. And they were keen to hear about what the European Parliament does on the Social Medias.

They are a bit scared of what lies ahead. Just like we were.

For those occasions, we use a Keynote presentation aimed at impressing the audience, demonstrating our skills, raising our doubts and interrogations and, above all, at sparkling debate with the audience. We don’t hold any truth nor secret recipe. Our social media activity is a daily work in progress and we learn, fail and succeed every day. We’re just ahead of the game, in the institutional perimeter, because we were boosted by the 2009 Election campaign and mandated by our political masters to be active and visible in those new territories of communication. And, granted, we kind of love doing those social media things.

First rule for moving on Social Medias

My fellow banking communicators are a few step behind. They’re currently drafting their strategy for social medias and will hopefully convince their top management that it should be the way to go. Some of the Central Banks have Twitter accounts, more or less automatized, more or less humanised, very few have a Facebook page. And they are a bit scared of what lies ahead.

Just like we were.

I am grateful for the support we received (and keep receiving) from *our* top management. Because in the banking world, where secrecy is a second nature, where you deal with complicated econometric models understood only by a handful of super financial geeks, and where staff is supposed to be as discreet as the meeting rooms grey walls, going on this 2.0 jazz full of interactions, comments, questions, online conversations is definitely not an easy step. Not to forget, as they realistically pointed out themselves during the meeting, that Banks are not on people’s top 10 love list. People don’t like banks, even less the central ones, which are blamed for inflation, the economic crisis, the level of unemployment, the bad weather and the poor Harry Potter finale. Under those circumstances, how do you convince your board – yes, they have « boards » in their organizations and it’s the sister of God or something in terms of decision making – to open a Facebook page, a blog or some Twitter feeds where outsiders, maybe even real people, will react to you, will interact with you?

Yep, it’s not easy to be as despised as this « Brussels bubble » from which comes all the troubles of the… Oh, wait. I see a pattern here.

It won’t be easy for them as it wasn’t (and still isn’t always) easy for us. But during the exchanges, some ideas came up. And thanks to the smooth and professional way with which Frankfurt airport handles its guests (Brussels Airport, if you’re reading this: I hate you. You simply suck.) some other thoughts came to me I’d like to expose here.

I am a Central Bank – how do I go 2.0?

You’re banks. You’re dealing with money – most interesting subject ever after sex. Tell me about money. Where does it come from? Who has some? Who needs more? How wealthy am I (or not) compared to my neighbors? Where should I send my children to study about money? How could I get more or lose less? What are the best commercial banks? The lowest rates? How should I negotiate with my banker? Give me tips. Create a blog, a tumblr with daily money facts. Trivias. Insert some news about your whereabouts.

You’re central banks. You have a staff composed of super smart people dealing with economics. Have you heard about Freakonomics? Explain me the economy in a way I can understand from people I can trust. Give me conversational tricks I can use to bluff my colleagues at the coffee machine. Make me smarter. Give me the economical keys of the world we live in. I am sure you have zillions of interesting studies about business, GDP, job’s market. SHARE THEM with me. Make me react to them. Ask me to ask you impossible questions to see if Economy can solve anything – the Financial Times is your Bible, I’ve heard. They do exactly that in their weekend supplement: « What would Adam Smith do? » (can’t remember the exact title here and the closest FT edition is in German). Well, create a tumblr: « What would the ECB do? » (Easy: keep the rates low).

Don’t try to reach all audiences at once. Focus on your natural first circle: experts, universitarians, other bankers. Don’t try to sell everything you do. Focus on concrete things: events, visits, seminars. Maybe you’ll need to create new kind of services that would help your 2.0 promotion – I’ve heard economists call it a virtuous circle, but what do I know, I only read the FT on Sundays.

During the meeting, we’ve discussed the strategy on how to handle your top management. I won’t reveal anything here, as my own bosses sometimes come and check what we publish on this blog. But, hey, my new buddies-bankers, next time my banker gives me a hard-time, you’d give her a call for me, right?

Do we want to stay isolated at the top of the EP ivory tower in Brussels? Or do we want to be open to Europe? Photo by Annette Poro on Flickr

When I applied for a competition three years ago, I was just finishing my studies, searching for a job in France. I had no connection in Brussels, no idea about how it is to work for the European institutions. The competition was a great opportunity, a big adventure for me. Month after month, it became more and more real. The final result gave me the chance to come to Brussels. Otherwise, I would probably have never come. I would have stayed at a local level, communicating for municipalities or regional authorities (an extremely interesting job, which was very complementary what I now do in Brussels).

The only thing I would like to wish to people is to take the opportunity, to go ahead and to enjoy the same experience. Europe needs young, creative and dynamic people. Europe needs people from all over its territory, not only from Brussels. And Europe is there for citizens, Europe should base on its citizens. EU institutions should be open institutions, accessible to everyone. Brussels shouldn’t be too far away in the heads of millions of citizens who could have the skills and the desire to work for the institutions!

Europe needs people from all over its territory.

I see the open competitions as the lung of the European institutions. They have – in my opinion – two aims.

The first one is to recruit specialists from different sectors. A lot of them are already in Brussels, working in or around the institutions. EU needs their skills, their commitment and their knowledge of its functioning and issues.

The second one is to attract citizens from the four corners of Europe. If we want institutions not in their ivory tower, closer to the people, if we want to destroy the bad image of “those in Brussels”, if we want to go to the citizen, we should first open our doors to them.

The European institutions have been too much separated from Europe in the last decades. Let’s hope it will change. Is the reform of the EPSO system (which organizes the competitions) a step in the right direction? I don’t know. Wait and see, and good luck to all the competitors!

Well, there are lots of Christmas traditions that are practiced by a number of countries all over Europe during the holiday season. These traditions can be as diverse as the culture and religious practices of each and every country. Looks like in Belgium they even have a different day: 6th of December- St.Nicolas.

I still get this fascinating flash back to my sacred box of childhood memories, though slightly covered all over with the dust of time, but still very vivid. Christmas at that time associated me with many things. I still recall going to the forest with my father for an alive Christmas tree, while my mother was busy in the kitchen with preparations of Christmas meals. The sensual receptors were tinkled by the smell and scent of grog, freshly baked ginger bread and handmade vanilla pudding or cinnamon- massepain biscuits.

Though the most exciting moment was the ability to curb the shivering anxiety and be patient waiting to have Christmas presents unwrapped.

My brother and me – we were simply perturbed with bubbling curiosity, eager to discover in advance Santa Claus’ fascinating surprise cadeaux left for us under the Christmas tree.

Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower to share its beauty with others…

Honestly, we kind of suspected that it was our parents who would buy us presents, but deep in the heart it was much bigger pleasure to believe in Santa Claus, who came all the long way from Finland, Lapland and paid us a generous visit.

Rhetoric is in the air: was it that we filtered all happenings through the eyes of children, or is it that the nowadays society changed so much in those 20-30 years, that everything is soaked and wrapped in commercial shield?

Now I get a duck skin from the thought about Christmas-as this psychedelic period associates me with stressful gift shopping, wasting your time in queues, being stuck in traffic jams and feeling completely exhausted by the end of  that week.

Let alone the whining, lets have a look at another side of the medal- some people were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, some were scratched by the nails of poverty.

Somehow for the past several years the approaching Christmas often jingle-bells my heart and brains with intention to turn and remember those, who mostly need love and care. I like the saying by Jimmy Durante: “the spaces between your fingers were created so that another’s could fill them in.”

Its been a really lovely charity tradition in EP before Christmas period to initiate its staff calling for voluntary donation (let it be toys, clothes, sweets or other goods), thus trying to leave at least  a drop of joy in the heart of the deserted ones…especially those, deprived from their families… 

Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower to share its beauty with others…