The Foreign and Commonwealth Office will lead a cross-departmental drive under plans rubber-stamped at a Cabinet meeting last week. FCO press secretary Lucian Hudson and head of Europe group Deborah Bronnert will lead the campaign across 11 Whitehall departments next year.
‘There is an aim to create a debate about the EU. We are making progress in Europe on the issues that matter, such as climate change,' said Hudson.
Specific initiatives that have been mooted include the creation of a network of European press co-ordinators - one for each Whitehall department - to manage specific campaigns around any issues with a European element. These PROs would be responsible for promoting ‘brand Europe'.
Government permanent secretary for comms Howell James is believed to want all government comms on Europe to be screened by the European press co-ordinators.
