My half-formulated question of the other day, about why Belgium of all places was chosen as the seat of a united Europe, just answered itself. It is blindingly obvious. Belgium is where the most bloody battles of the first and second world wars were fought. The names Ypres, Passchendael, and the Somme are engraved on the collective memory.
The EU was born out of an ideal conceived by two Frenchmen, Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet, in the aftermath of the second world war. Never again should European countries try to destroy each other. It started with the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, made up of France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. It became the European Economic Community in 1957. Britain, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark joined in 1973, Greece in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986, Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995, and then a raft of former Eastern bloc countries plus Malta and Cyprus in 2004.
So now we are 25. I’m looking out of my window tonight at the Berlaymont, the symbolic power base of Brussels. And today, on the 88th anniversary of the Armistice, it looks to me like a monument engraved with the words “never again”. So when you feel like bashing Brussels, just be thankful it's not Berlin.
Of course it had to be Belgium.
The EU was born out of an ideal conceived by two Frenchmen, Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet, in the aftermath of the second world war. Never again should European countries try to destroy each other. It started with the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, made up of France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. It became the European Economic Community in 1957. Britain, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark joined in 1973, Greece in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986, Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995, and then a raft of former Eastern bloc countries plus Malta and Cyprus in 2004.
So now we are 25. I’m looking out of my window tonight at the Berlaymont, the symbolic power base of Brussels. And today, on the 88th anniversary of the Armistice, it looks to me like a monument engraved with the words “never again”. So when you feel like bashing Brussels, just be thankful it's not Berlin.
Of course it had to be Belgium.
6 comments:
According to The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy, "Belgium" is the worst swear-word in the galaxy. But I don't suppose that has much to do with it being the seat of power for the EU...
Thanks for taking the time to comment on my blog, by the way :)
OK, while I agree with the sentiment, what I don't get is WHY WOULD ANYONE POST THAT ON YOU-TUBE?
And if they did, why not the choral version? It's so much more stirring.
Kim, welcome to my world. THGTTG is my bible. Zaphod von Beeblebrox is very close to my heart - as I will reveal in greater depth shortly. Stay tuned.
Aunty, maybe the choral version is on YouTube, I couldn't be arsed to look. But it's true that the EU is the bastard child of two world wars. Love it or loath it, it's sort of done what it was originally meant to. So far, anyway.
The Berlaymont "looks to me like a monument engraved with the words 'never again'."
Too right - as it also comes with the words 'architectural disaster-zone' carved on its allegedly 'star-shaped' heart.
Apparently the Commissioners' saunas are nice, though.
Inside it's like one of those visual trick pictures - you can never get your bearings. It's actually in the shape of a wonky cross if you look at it from the sky (Google Earth everyone). Which is quite appropriate. The Commission is wonky, and it makes us all cross!
Well, I know my way around the ground floor, due to the amount of Commission press briefings I had to attend in a previous life.
But Margot has yet to invite me to the top floor.
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