Last week we saw European discussions and debates beginning to move to the web.
Just a few days after the European Commission launched its EUTube initiative, the European Parliament presented the background on its proposed webTV channel at a UACES meeting.
At Euforic, we covered two events last week with video interviews: The SID 50th anniversary conference in The Hague and the first of the Brussels briefing series (see the video interviews). The latter was also filmed for the web with a split screen system where presenters are seen in one window and their powerpoints in another.
The long standing project to open up the Parliament online is moving into a prototype phase. We may soon be able to view the development committee and parliamentary discussions on development issues live and interactive. Already many Commission events are available online as video. Discussions at the European Development Days last year are available in various audio and video format.
The new EUTube initiative so far only covers a few development topics, but does include material from another web broadcaster, EUX.TV. The youth channel europocket.tv, takes a more irreverent look at EU issues in an accessible form.
What can we expect to see and hear on the Parliament's new channel?
The channel will hopefully adopt the best approaches around Europe: Committee events will probably be streamed whilst previous plenaries can be reviewed. There are likely to be background programmes on how the Parliament works, as is done in the Danish Parliament; interviews of all MEPs, as is done by the Austrians and programs such as the UK's "week in Parliament." Effectively there would be oversight without day to day control as is done in France.
So turn on, tune in and watch online!
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story by Chris Addison
