By Stephen Mulvey
EU reporter, BBC News
But while videos on the CAP and road safety are barely getting touched, a clip of sex scenes from European cinema has become a runaway success.
Titled Film Lovers Will Love This!, it shows men and women having sex in different ways and places, and ends with the words, "Let's come together".
Supporters say it celebrates European cinema, but others term it "soft porn".
British Conservative MEP Chris Heaton-Harris told BBC News the European Commission was wasting taxpayers' money.
"They do have an image problem but I think cobbling together 44 seconds of soft porn on the internet is not a brilliant way of solving it," he added.
Creativity
Godfrey Bloom, a UK Independence Party MEP, described the video as tawdry and tacky, adding: "It is like watching an elderly relative trying to be cool, very embarrassing."
A Polish MEP from the conservative League of Polish Families has accused the commission of using "immoral methods" to promote itself.
We believe in freedom of expression and artistic creativity
Martin Selmayr, spokesman for Media Commissioner Viviane Reding
Fuming at what he called "quasi-religious bashing of the very important cultural diversity we have in the European Union", he said the lovemaking clips were excerpts from award-winning films, and that the commission was proud of the EU's rich cinematic heritage.
"The European Union is not a bible belt, we believe in freedom of expression and artistic creativity," he added.
The sex-scene video is one of four made for screening in European cinemas to advertise an EU fund that helps distributes successful films made in one EU state to others.
'Slap and tickle'
All four have been available on the European Commission's website and YouTube since February, and until Friday one of the other films, with much less sex in it, was the most popular.
It is very important for the Commission to use all the means at its disposal when it comes to communicating with European citizens
Commission Vice-President Margot Wallstrom
Labour MEP Gary Titley said: "European films are about more than a quick slap and a tickle. It is bonkers that this clip gets so much attention."
At the launch of the channel on Friday, Commission Vice-President Margot Wallstrom said: "It is very important for the Commission to use all the means at its disposal when it comes to communicating with European citizens."
None of the e-mailers to the EUtube site has objected about sexual content.
The main complaint has been that few of the films are yet available in languages other than English, but the orgasmic cries of Film Lovers Will Love This! need no translation.
Berlaymont Building (European Commission) Brussels, Belgium. 


This weekend the European Commission launched its own channel on YouTube, a highly popular website for distributing videos made by its users. 

Margot Wallström, the Commission Vice-president responsible for the communication strategy of the EU, explained that the channel on YouTube will be used to distribute informational and promotional videos about the EU. 

YouTube allows users to create a "channel" in which to upload a series of videos in a dedicated, user-specific directory. The EU had used online videos before, but they did not catch on with a larger audience.

At the time of writing (July 4, 2007 at 21:25 UTC), the channel contained 47 videos, which were watched approximately 2.5 million times in total. A controversial video entitled "Film lovers will love this!" garnered over 1.8 million views alone. The video contains short segments of several successful movies whose production was funded by European Commission, the segments show couples undressing, kissing and reaching orgasm. It is intended to promote knowledge about the Media Program of the European Commission and its results.