WhyEurope

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigation
Jump to search

This article contains content that is written like an advertisement. Please help
improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links, and by
adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view. (May 2018) (Learn
how and when to remove this template message)
WhyEuropeLogo final transparent copy.png
Formation July 2016, registered September 2017
Legal status Registered non-profit organization ("eingetragener Verein")
Headquarters Tübingen, Germany
Membership
30
Website https://www.whyeurope.org

WhyEurope is a non-partisan and independent non-profit organization, which was

founded in 2016 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. It aims at highlighting the
benefit of the European Union for an average citizen in their daily lives by
adopting an innovative communication style. Since September 2017, WhyEurope e.V. is
an officially registered association based in Tübingen, Germany. It has
approximately 30 members from over 10 European states.
Contents

1 Background and History

2 Communication Style
3 Independence
4 Relationship to other initiatives
5 Reception
6 References
7 External links

Background and History

The initiative was founded by the three students Hans-Christoph Schlüter, Benedikt
Erasmus Kau and Mirko Moser-Abt. All three shared a concern about the rise of
euroscepticism and right-wing-populism.[1] The outcome of the Brexit referendum was
the trigger for them to become active. They decided to publish pictures with simple
pro-European messages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.[2]
Communication Style

WhyEurope has adopted a communication style they refer to as “Positive Populism”.

The founders describe the approach as simple, emotional and personal.[3] They
refrain from including difficult, political or legal terms in their slogans and
make their messages as catchy and short as possible. Furthermore, WhyEurope aims to
trigger positive emotions by connecting political issues to every-day topics such
as love or happiness.[4] The initiative aims at pointing out the concrete
advantages complex benefits of European integration have in people's daily lives.
[5] The founders have repeatedly stated that Positive Populism is to be seen as a
simple and emotional communication style, but sustains a foundation of hard facts
and evidence.[6] In contrary to actual ‘negative’ populists, they want to provide
factual evidence and explanations for their claims.[7]

WhyEurope considers Positive Populism an approach to oppose current populist and

extremist movements.[8] According to them, the technical communication of the
European Union might have contributed to the lack of support those institutions
have received during the past years. Adopting a more appealing communication
approach might help the Union to regain confidence.[9]
Independence

Since their foundation, WhyEurope has always emphasized their character as a non-
partisan and independent initiative. Despite being in contact with actors of the
European Union, they have repeatedly stated their distance to the EU institutions.
[10] They refuse to accept any financial support in any form from the European
Union and other political institutions or actors.[11]
Relationship to other initiatives

WhyEurope has had a number of cooperations with other pro-European initiatives.

Since beginning of 2016, Benedikt Kau and Hans-Christoph Schlüter were in contact
with Daniel Röder and Sabine Röder when they launched the demonstrations under the
name Pulse of Europe.[12] Pulse of Europe adopted the campaign and the slogan of
the campaign “Blijf bij ons” focusing on the Dutch General elections. Together, the
initiatives mobilized ten thousands of people joining pro-European demonstrations.
[13]

Further cooperations included projects with the Young European Federalists and
Laute Europäer[14].
Reception

On 31 January, Marine Le Pen (Front National) filed a parliamentary request in the

European Parliament asking about the funding of WhyEurope through the European
Commission.[15] Commissioner Günther Oettinger, then responsible person for the EU
budget, replied that the Commission has not funded WhyEurope in any way and the
name were not found within the central accounting system.[16]

When EURACTIV first discovered the WhyEurope Twitter account a few days ago, we
were puzzled by the freshness of the pro-European messages, in stark contrast to
the EU’s usually boring official communications.
— Georgi Gotev, Senior Editor at Euractiv

November 2017, WhyEurope has been awarded European Public Communication Award by
the European Committee Of The Regions.[17][18] The prize was received during the
EuroPCom in the hemicycle of the European Parliament.[19][20][21][22][23][24]

In May 2018, WhyEurope has been awarded the Arno-Esch-Preis by the Association of
Liberal Academics in Germany[25].
References

Badische Zeitung, Facebook-Seite "Whyeurope" ist pro-europäisch und populistisch -

Kultur - Badische Zeitung (in German), retrieved 2018-03-10
"WhyEurope: 'Brexit was the trigger. We had to do something'", euractiv.com (in
German), 2017-02-24, retrieved 2018-03-10
"Students trial 'positive populism' in pro-EU messages", euractiv.com (in German),
2017-01-20, retrieved 2018-03-10
""Positiver Populismus" – Co-Gründer von WhyEurope im Interview" (in German).
Retrieved 2018-03-10.
"Why Europe", Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit (in German), retrieved
2018-03-10
"Why Europe? – Euranet Plus" (in German). Retrieved 2018-03-10.
"About | WhyEurope" (in German). Retrieved 2018-03-10.
"CONTENT: Pourquoi l'Europe? Initiation au populisme positif – Master Europe".
Retrieved 2018-03-10.
Anne Havenith, Kármán Hochschulzeitung - WhyEurope – Die EU retten mit Social
Media? (in German), retrieved 2018-03-10
European Committee of the Regions (2017-11-10). "Hans-Christoph Schlüter - Raising
emotional engagement with Europe - EuropCom 2017" (in German). Retrieved 2018-03-
10.
"Support Us | WhyEurope". www.whyeurope.org. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
"Why Europe – Wahres mit Augenzwinkern – #PulseofEurope" (in German). Retrieved
2018-03-10.
Duitsers demonstreren tegen 'nexit': blijf bij ons! (in German), retrieved 2018-03-
10
“Positiver Populismus” – Co-Gründer von WhyEurope im Interview (in German),
retrieved 2018-03-26
"Le Pen confuses student initiative with 'EU propaganda'", euractiv.com (in
German), 2017-04-28, retrieved 2018-03-10
"Answer to a written question - Whyeurope - E-000605/2017". Retrieved 2018-03-10.
Marco Karp, "Why Europe" macht Stimmung für Europa (in German), retrieved 2018-03-
10
"Auszeichnung für Tübinger Student durch die Europäische Union", cantaloup.fm (in
German), retrieved 2018-03-10
"Preis für Tübinger Studenten: "WhyEurope" wird von der Europäischen Union
ausgezeichnet | Universität Tübingen" (in German). Retrieved 2018-03-10.
"WhyEurope: Populismus für Europa - EURACTIV.de" (in German). Retrieved 2018-03-10.
"Student's project WhyEurope wins Special Prize for communication", euractiv.com
(in German), 2017-11-13, retrieved 2018-03-10
"Neunkirchener Hans-Christoph Schlüter mit European Public Communication Award
ausgezeichnet", https://www.siegerlandkurier.de (in German), 2017-11-10, retrieved
2018-03-10 External link in |periodical= (help)
Badische Zeitung, MENSCHEN - Freiburg - Badische Zeitung (in German), retrieved
2018-03-10
Trois étudiants Strasbourgeois récompensés par l’Union Européenne (in German),
retrieved 2018-03-10

"Für Europa mit „Positiven Populismus"". obermain.de (in German). 2018-05-22.

Retrieved 2018-05-23.

External links

Official website

Categories:

Pro-EuropeanismOrganisations based in TübingenPolitical organisations based in

GermanyOrganizations established in 2017

Navigation menu

Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in

Article
Talk

Read
Edit
View history

Search

Main page
Contents
 Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate

Contribute

Help
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file

Tools

What links here

Related changes
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export

Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages

Deutsch
Français

Edit links

This page was last edited on 15 October 2019, at 16:52 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;
additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and
Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation,
Inc., a non-profit organization.

Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Statistics
Cookie statement
Mobile view

Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki