Here are some of the answers to the survey on the “awareness on the EPPO” not destined to the students of the University of Milano Bicocca, but whoever cared about the matter, to test the degree of awareness on the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Let’s remember that the EPPO started its operations on 1 June 2021, after the European Commission confirmed the starting date on 26 May 2021.
What was brought up from the analysis made from c.a. 133 answers to the survey conducted, is that 71,4% of the participants know what the EPPO is, which is an assuring information, but not all of those people know what it’s responsible for!
It’s very interesting how school and university were indicated as major communicative vehicles in terms of information on the EPPO, that’s how 68,3% of the participants heard of it.
In consequence to that, only 25% of the participants were made aware through press articles or because of their occupation, and the rest of them from other sources.
For this reason in particular, 94% of the participants suppose that there’s not enough information regarding the EPPO, and have expressed the wish to know more on the subject through social media posts, blog articles, videos and podcasts. These are the most requested means, probably because there’s still a lot of misinformation about EPPO’s activities in the European Union. Moreover, the survey shows how little awareness there is about the potential of the EPPO in protecting the rule of law and improving EU citizens’ life.
One of the last questions posed was if the participants were interested in taking the Jean Monnet Module The EPPO and EU Law: a Step Forward in Integration, starting the next semester: a whopping 67% answered positively. Furthermore, the survey asked: would you be interested in participating in a VR game on a simulation of a EPPO investigation process? The results show the strong interest of the participants in taking part of this new project, as the 77,7% answered positively to this question. The Game Subcommittee is working to make this possible and to create a unique educational VR game, a Serious Game! Great news is that it is expected to become available in a few months.
The University of Milano Bicocca gives the chance to students to know what the EPPO is and how it works, especially through direct contact with people who’s involved in its working processes. It’s a great opportunity for everyone, even for who’s not students, to learn something more about this new part of the European Union.
For the most interested ones, there’s the possibility to be part of one of the STEPPO Subcommittees that you can find on the website www.steppo-eulaw.com ,where you can also find all the emails to connect with the Chairs and send them your candidacy.
12/02/2022 Written by:
Veronica Carbone
Iman Khodi
C. Vergnaghi
Estella Gambara