WHAT
This is NOT an official service of the European Commission.
This is a system which publishes Neelie Kroes speeches in commentable format right after they are published. Ideally, people in the audience will be able to comment right after the speech, or at least during the conference.
The speeches are automatically imported from the official press releases of the European Commission as soon as they are released.

WHY
Politicians’ speeches are very important but they are designed as top-down, one-way messages while they would benefit from a more open debate. Yes, there are some comments on Twitter but these are just the tip of the iceberg: we think there could be a more meaningful debate online, with an appropriate tool.
And it is a missed opportunity for engagement, because speeches are often more clear and “sexy” than policy documents.
Plus we like Neelie Kroes and we think she will appreciate the effort.

HOW (TO COMMENT)
Simply click on the sentence that you want to comment on, and a box will appear on the right where you can add your comment. If you click on the speech balloon, you will be able to see other people’s comments, and comment on them.

WHO
This project is a joint work of David Osimo and Marcello Verona.
Thanks to Laia Pujol for the feedback and the tagline “Making Speeches Talk”. Thanks to Paola Contu for the pop art version of Neelie Kroes's photos.