As Alex notes in the post immediately below, new social networking technologies can be forces for good or evil. I’ll leave you to decide which category the EU’s new idea for a Political Facebook open to Europe’s 20,000 parliamentarians falls into:
Myparl.eu – officially to be launched in October – is a website currently under construction that aims to work along the same lines as the popular MySpace or Facebook social networking services, but in addition to linking social contacts is supposed to foster debate about legislative proposals coming both out of Brussels and from national parliaments.
The first official talks on the project, which is sponsored by the European Commission and will receive EU funds, took place in Brussels on 28 May involving MEPs and 27 national co-ordinators. Daniela Vincenti Mitchener, editor of the site, told EUobserver the project is about “creating a transnational community of ideas” and that it will alert MPs to MPs in other countries “who are thinking alike.”
The project could potentially involve up to 20,000 people, including politicians from regional governments and parliaments. Myparl.eu will put forward three main themes for debate – the future of Europe, climate change and intercultural dialogue.
