Quit Strasbourg

[Drogue]

Originally posted by atawa
Since when is the EU a country?

You don't have to be a country to have a capital. Sacramento is the capital of California, which isn't a country.

[Colonâ„¢]

Originally posted by Heresson
If Brussels is considered good for making buiseness, it's because of its EU status.

Nope, or at least not exclusively. Brussels usually scores good points for its infrastructure, it's telecommunication facilities, and the productivity of the labour force, as well as its multilinguality (and you cannot exactly accuse Frenchmen of a lot of fervour to speak other languages).

[atawa]

Originally posted by Drogue

You don't have to be a country to have a capital. Sacramento is the capital of California, which isn't a country.

True, but that is one level below country, I'm talking about one level above.

Does that make NYC the capital of the UN then?

[atawa]

Originally posted by Colonâ„¢
as well as its multilinguality (and you cannot exactly accuse Frenchmen of a lot of fervour to speak other languages).

What utter BS, the flemish refuse to speak french, the wallons never even bothered to speak dutch, and in general the belgian command of english is poor at best.

the productivity of the labour force,

Witch is totaly in line with EU officials

[Colonâ„¢]

Atawa, what is your old nick? A moron like you must have come to my attention a lot sooner.

[atawa]

Ik ook van jou

[Dinner]

If France would give up soveriegnty over Straßburg/Strossburi/Strasbourg (yes, I looked that one up) and give it to the EU as a place where only the EU's laws apply then Strasbourg might work. Failing that then Brussels should be the sole capital.

[Dry]

Originally posted by Colonâ„¢
It's also located between Europe's 3 protagonists, Germany, France and the UK, without being part of any. It's a neutral city, like Belgium historically was a neutral country.

That's only true since 73, when UK, Ireland and Danemark joined.
Don't forget that EU at start was composed of only 6 countries: (alphabetically) Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg and Netherlands.

It was more or less the re-creation of Charlemagne's empire (The building where european parliement originally meet was probably therefore called the 'Charlemagne').

IIRC, back then, the parliement did meet in Brussels and Strassburg for ordinary sessions, in Luxemburg for extraordinary sessions.

Because the main actors of the EEC were French and Germans, Strassburg was a logical place for a capital and was more central (think: Italy) than Brussels or Luxemburg.

Luxemburg was abandonned in favor of Brussels for economical reasons. It was not worth to keep it for 1, maximum 2 sessions per year.

The choice between Brussels and Strassburg is harder.
To have Strassburg as capital of EU has meaning only as historical symbol: remembrance of who were the EU founders.
When asked, most EU delegates and functionaries seem to prefer Brussels.
Because of UK membership, Brussels today has probably the advantage of being more neutral.
And Brussels might indeed be more multilingual than Strassburg: all services today in Brussels are available in english.

[Dry]

Originally posted by Heresson
Belgium is de facto a vassal of France.

De facto?
Which facts?
When has Belgium ever been vassal of France?

Belgium has been more aften assylum ground for french dissidents than a french vassal.

We happened to be allied.
But vassals?

[Dry]

Originally posted by atawa
What utter BS, the flemish refuse to speak french, the wallons never even bothered to speak dutch, and in general the belgian command of english is poor at best.

Says someone who probably never came to Brussels.

First: Colon was talking about Brussels, you talk about flemish, walloons and Belgium. Brussels is neither flemish nor walloon... Brussels is... well, Brussels.

Second: (some) flemish refuse to speak french when talking to walloons, very rarely when talking to foreigners; while walloons who do speak dutch, do it more willinglly with dutch people than with flemish people...

Third: It seems Brussels' english isn't that bad, as most english speaker have no need to learn any other language when living in Brussels (I have even meet one complaining about not being able to improve his french, because each time he tried to speak, people were replying in english).

[Drogue]

Originally posted by atawa
True, but that is one level below country, I'm talking about one level above.

Does that make NYC the capital of the UN then?

No, the UN is an organisation, not an area. It's like saying the capital of Microsoft is Seattle. A capital tends to be of any area that has it's own government, and tends to be where that government sits. Whether that area is a county, state, region or country doesn't really matter.

[TCO]

Originally posted by Colonâ„¢
If you want symbolism: Brussels straddles the border between the Romanic peoples and the Germanic peoples of Europe. It's also located between Europe's 3 protagonists, Germany, France and the UK, without being part of any. It's a neutral city, like Belgium historically was a neutral country.
Brussels is the HQ of both the European Commission as well as the European Council, which are the EU's most important institutions. Most the EU's officials are employed in the city (over 20,000 people), MEP's spend most of their time there (3 weeks out of 4), and journalists who cover the EU are based there (to the point the EP even felt compelled to subsidize journalists to join them on their trip to Strasbourg). For those reasons Brussels is already widely seen as the de facto capital of the EU.
Finally Brussels also houses the HQ of the NATO is, and is consistently touted as Europe's 4th best city for doing business (after London, Paris and Frankfurt).

In other words: it's not out of arbitrariness why the petition's exponents speak of ceasing the monthly move to Strasbourg rather than the reverse.

Agreed. Keep the beauracracy in one location. You all Eurocoms look so silly with this stuff, btw...

[TCO]

Originally posted by Colonâ„¢


Nope, or at least not exclusively. Brussels usually scores good points for its infrastructure, it's telecommunication facilities, and the productivity of the labour force, as well as its multilinguality (and you cannot exactly accuse Frenchmen of a lot of fervour to speak other languages).

You left out smuggling, boring, too many parliaments and the sign in the airport which tells you that Belgium (which is a slice off the rump of France, really) is actually 3 countries, not one teensy thingamajig.

No offense, though, Walloon.

[TCO]

Originally posted by Colonâ„¢
Atawa, what is your old nick? A moron like you must have come to my attention a lot sooner.

I'm not anyone that you know.

[atawa]

Originally posted by Dry

Says someone who probably never came to Brussels.

Well only for a 4-day weekend but I've spend numerous weekend and short holidays in Belgium over the last 34 years so I have met quite a few Belgians in my time, including a lot from Brussels.

First: Colon was talking about Brussels, you talk about flemish, walloons and Belgium. Brussels is neither flemish nor walloon... Brussels is... well, Brussels.

I did find it more international then say Antwerpen or Liege, but being with someone who could only speak English I found most people we met both in the service industry and personal didnt speak English all that well.

Second: (some) flemish refuse to speak french when talking to walloons, very rarely when talking to foreigners; while walloons who do speak dutch, do it more willinglly with dutch people than with flemish people...

Yes, witch makes it kind of unpleasant when you have both Flemish and Wallon friends, you always have one who takes the "taalstrijd" way too seriously. Frankly I dont see why you dont split the country up and make Brussels a "European city".

Third: It seems Brussels' english isn't that bad, as most english speaker have no need to learn any other language when living in Brussels (I have even meet one complaining about not being able to improve his french, because each time he tried to speak, people were replying in english).

Maybe we met the wrong people when we were there..