When the EU foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday, top of the agenda was the need to improve the overall image of the EU - and for more information to reach the general public. EU bodies, the Belgium Presidency admitted, were seen as "anonymous and distant", and it was acknowledged that the shock of Ireland's rejection of the Nice Treaty meant they had to address immediately what is called the democratic deficit.
Our man at the table, Brian Cowen, said the EU was increasingly unloved by a generation for whom its original aim, of bringing together wartime enemies, was no longer relevant. "People are taking for granted the prosperity and peace that have been built. We've got to find an agenda which is real and relevant in their everyday lives."
Monday's discussion was just the first stirrings in what will be a concerted and sophisticated pro-Europe promotion, not just in Ireland, but throughout the member states. It will start gradually when the August break is over and build up to our second referendum on Nice in autumn, 2002.
In the Republic, the campaign will include several strands - the Forum for Europe, which will travel the country, under an impartial chairman, hearing from interested bodies at great length; increased pro-Europe activity and spending by the Government (unfettered by the McKenna judgment outside election time) and by the main parties; and an improved flow of information to ordinary people from the EU institutions in Dublin - the Commission and the Parliament.
Just as McKenna hindered the Government in promoting a pro-Nice vote, it also curtailed the European institutions here who were extra reluctant to get involved in domestic issues. But now there is a growing feeling that what the institutions views as the promotion of disinformation (both before and since the vote) has to be answered, if what they see as catastrophe - a second rejection of Nice - is to be avoided. Expect a greater role from them.
On the Forum, the Government has already written to the political parties seeking views. The news this week, though, is good for the forces of Europe - the main parties, the trade unions, the farmers, business and even the church. The latest Eurobarometer poll shows the Irish are more enthusiastic about EU membership than anyone else. It would be a shame if we are punished for voting No, as some Eurocrats predict, by cut-backs in various fundings.