Thread by @spornschlegel

Friday night rant: Having researched several policy areas for a briefing on the priorities of the new Commission this week, I have to say I am absolutely underwhelmed by the lack of intelligibility & translations of the @EU_Commission's website. /1

Many pages (eg on Rule of Law!) aren't even available in German, even though it's one of the largest EU country. Important Communications & Strategies haven't been translated, or if they are, they are not available on the website. /2

In addition, it's close to impossible (at least for everyone who is not an absolute EU nerd) to differentiate between statements, strategies or actual policy proposals - and to understand what has happened to those legislative proposals and where they stand. /3

It's also impossible to understand the structure of the EU when it's unclear which Commissioner works with which DG. The lack of human faces on the DG's pages doesn't help to feel like the EU is a bureaucratic monster (which it isn't, btw). /4

And finally, after years of criticism for unreadable names of EU initiatives, it doesn't seem to have changed much (MFF, ETS, IPA II, CAI just to name a few). It remains a vast puzzle for everyone who doesn't spend their whole life in the EU bubble. /5

Last but not least, I am not pointing fingers to DG COMM, they do a lot of great work. It's a general issue that policy-makers really need to make an effort to make their work intelligible to citizens. Otherwise even a #CoFoE won't help. /6

Proof: Deutsch doesn’t exist.