Ceremony of signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (EP - CIRCOM) by Antonio TAJANI, EP President and Jyri KATAJA-RAHKO, CIRCOM Regional President, in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Statement by Jyri KATAJA-RAHKO, CIRCOM Regional President and Jaume DUCH GUILLOT, Directeur-General of DG COMM du PE. Views in the protocol room during the signature and family photo.

TAJANI, Antonio (EPP, IT)

Strasbourg

ceremony

DUCH GUILLOT, Jaume (ES)

Signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (EP - CIRCOM): extracts from the ceremony with Antonio TAJANI, EP President and Jyri KATAJA-RAHKO, CIRCOM Regional President

Views in the protocol room during the signature; Family photo  (7 shots)

SOUNDBITE (English), Jyri KATAJA-RAHKO, CIRCOM Regional President, This is a great opportunity to cooperate with the European Parliament, to help citizens get more involved in the election campaign and in to political discussion. We at the CIRCOM regional we can do it because we are everywhere. In Europe we are the closest media for regional people. So in that way that's great. And this is a good way to cooperate because we have our editorial independence. And especially during these times when we have things like Fake News, and those kind of things, regional public service media is very trustful. That way we can get people, citizens involved with these campaigns.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jaume DUCH GUILLOT, Directeur-General of DG COMM du PE, The next European elections in May 2019 will be probably the most important European elections since ever, because citizens have the opportunity not only to elect their members of the Parliament but also to decide about the future of the European Union. So it's very important for the Parliament to be sure that the citizens know about these elections, know about this special importance of the elections, and have also the possibility to have access to information about the electoral campaigns about the candidates about all the things which are at stake. For that of course we need media we need the mass media and in this case television, so we are really happy that the President of the Parliament had the possibility to sign this agreement with the CIRCOM which is quite vast and interesting network for us.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jaume DUCH GUILLOT, Directeur-General of DG COMM du PE, Sometimes we forget that the links between the European level and the regional level are very interesting and are very direct. Sometimes the national media are more interested in the politics, in the policies and the politics process. But the regional media they are interested in very concrete things about investment, about agriculture, and about fisheries, about regional policies and these are things which of course are also the basis of the work of European Union. So to have this possibility to use regional channels, to use this regional connectivity it's also very important for the European Parliament.