Cyclists riding by the Berlaymont building that houses the European Commission - Photo credit ECF

Commissioner John Dalli publicly praises ECF for its visionary work and interdisciplinary collaborations. On an everyday basis ECF strives for making cycling conditions better in Europe. But not many know exactly how and with who ECF is working within the EU institutions.

What’s going on?

One can easily feel more confused than informed after reading news about EU policymaking. With all of these different EU institutions and the overwhelming amount of abbreviated names and titles that is being (over)used it is hard to really understand what's going on. This is, at least, how I feel. I'm a greenhorn in the world of EU and policymaking but I find the work that ECF does behind these glass walls extremely interesting. So I have been given the task to write about one of the many breakthroughs ECF is having because of the policymaking it does in the EU - and I promise to try and make it simple.

New Bike-to-Work collaboration is praised

ECF is actively networking and lobbying the Commission to promote cycling at many levels. One of the results is a novel Bike-to-Work promotion strategy in collaboration with one of the advertising world’s heavyweights: European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA). This has led to a commissioner publicly praising ECF for its visionary work and interdisciplinary collaboration.

“…efforts such as the one between the European Cyclists' Federation and the European Association of Communications Agencies to promote cycling commuting for employees are particularly encouraging.”

- Commissioner John Dalli

So ECF is impressing the EU commissioners but how did this collaboration begin and where did all this take place? Let’s zoom in on the settings.

A platform for action

In a glass covered, cross-shaped building called the Berlaymont the European Commission is seated. Besides the 27 EU commissioners the Commission is an administrative body employed by approximately 23,000 people. This enormous institution is broken into departments called Directorates General who are each headed by a commissioner. It is in one of these departments, Directorate General for Health and Consumers, where the Bike-to-Work collaboration with EACA began.

One of the goals of the Directorate General for Public Health and Consumers, aka SANCO, is to stimulate the different players in this field to constantly improve and even co-operate across the sectors of industry. To make this possible there has been set up a platform, The Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, where organizations that will perform new actions to improve these matters are allowed to join - ECF has been a member for three years.

The platform is mostly players from the food industry, the advertising industry, and many NGOs who deal with nutrition and/or public health. Only few of the members (6 out of 33) are related to physical activity (for example the Health and Fitness Association and the Sports and Culture Association) and none of these NGOs are exclusively promoting daily physical activity and active transport like ECF does.

 To communicate and not least co-operate across such different interests is hard work and calls for great patience. But ECF sees it as a challenge with great potentials.

Partnership with the European Association of Communication Agencies

ECF seeks ways to benefit members in their promotion of cycling. The promotion strategy EACA (the advertisers group on the platform) offered to work out was on a whole new level:

Often Bike-to-Work campaigns are addressed to the employees. In ECF’s new partnership with EACA that idea is turned upside-down by addressing the employers instead. The concept is that show-casing ongoing successful bike to work schemes will show others how desirable it is to be a pro-cycling CEO or manager! EACA made a joint commitment with ECF in 2011 to write a series of articles about the benefits CEOs and high level managers see from promoting Bike-to-Work in their companies. These articles will appear in professional management magazines in three countries. The current plan is Belgium, UK and Germany.

This is what it’s all about

First of all this is good news for ECF and ECF's members. Secondly but just as important, it has been inspiring for Commissioner John Dalli and the platform members to see that interdisciplinary collaborations that seek to progressively act on public health issues are possible and favorable.

“This is really what the Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health is supposed to be all about” says Randy Rzewnicki, who is the ECF representative on the Platform. “Members taking some novel action to promote health by increasing physical activity or improving nutrition.”

The articles are forthcoming in 2012. ECF will have more information about this project when the time is right. Until then ECF thanks Commissioner John Dalli for the kind and encouraging words and I hope that you, dear reader, feel you now know a little more about the work ECF does – at least I do!

About the Author

Sidsel Birk Hjuler is the communications assistant at ECF. Sidsel has a MA in Modern Culture and Cultural Communication, University of Copenhagen, and has been studying emerging bicycle cultures and the cycling experience of different international city infrastructures in sociological perspective.
She thinks that cycling, as a mode of transportation, significantly improves urban life.