The European Quarter in Brussels is home to the three main institutions of the EU: the Commission, Council of Ministers, and European Parliament. More than just a lesson in politics, a visit to the EU can be quite entertaining. Here comes my inside view of European politics.
The European ... Read review
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Advantages: Extensive information centres; lax security standards get you everywhere. Disadvantages: Dull speakers & boring debates
The European Quarter in Brussels is home to the three main institutions of the EU: the Commission, Council of Ministers, and European Parliament. More than just a lesson in politics, a visit to the EU can be quite entertaining. Here comes my inside view of European politics.
The European Parliament also has a plenary hall and offices in Strasbourg, France, and an administration in Luxembourg, but in over thirty weeks of the year its ... ...takes place.
Brussels' European Quarter is comprised of more than fifty buildings of EU institutions around the Rue de la Loi. It can easily be reached from the city centre by tube, and there are also plenty of car parks. As everywhere in the Belgian capitol, signposting is in French and Flemish (Dutch).
The Commission, Council and Parliament all have information centres which are open to the public. These have facts ... more
The European Quarter in Brussels is home to the three main institutions of the EU: the Commission, Council of Ministers, and European Parliament. More than just a lesson in politics, a visit to the EU can be quite entertaining. Here comes my inside view of European politics.
The European Parliament also has a plenary hall and offices in Strasbourg, France, and an administration in Luxembourg, but in over thirty weeks of the year its business is conducted in Brussels, and that's where the show takes place.
Brussels' European Quarter is comprised of more than fifty buildings of EU institutions around the Rue de la Loi. It can easily be reached from the city centre by tube, and there are also plenty of car parks. As everywhere in the Belgian capitol, signposting is in French and Flemish (Dutch).
The Commission, Council and Parliament all have information centres which are open to the public. These have facts and figures of the European Union on display, and include showrooms for information films and introductory talks. You get loaded with freebies, ranging from "I love Europe" stickers (also for British guests), to fancy EU stationary, to tons of information brochures and booklets.
Further access and insight into the heart of the EU requires a prior registration. If you have come as a visitor without pre-registration, then that's all there is to see, and you may directly jump to my next subheading, surrounding sights. In this case, a visit to the EU makes for a two hours' side-track on a getaway to Brussels. But, as you would have come to expect from me, I will explain how to get a look inside, an I have paved your way to the centre of European politics.
As of here, I will focus on the European Parliament (EP). The Council doesn't give access beyond the information centre, and the Commission is scattered over forty offices with their General Directorates, Sub-Directorates and Task Forces all around the European Quarter, which are of little interest to the non-political guest.
HOW TO GET IN AND WHAT TO SEE
There are several ways to visit the European Parliament, and they all come with different levels of access status and insight.
1. PUBLIC VISITOR GROUPS
If you want to visit the Parliament with your own group, or sign up to a group put together by the Parliament's visitor service, the waiting list is almost endless and you have to book one and a half years in advance!
The tour starts with a visit to the information centre, an introductory lecture by a third class bureaucrat and one of their documentary films which of course presents the EU only from its best side (the budget for the films must have somehow slipped the Tories's attention).
You are then let into the parliament building on a guided tour. This tour will usually include the plenary (the Hemicycle), some committee rooms and galleries filled with the counterfeits of famous European (ex-)politicians, and ends with a sponsored meal in the visitors canteen.
If it's a plenary session week, you will be given around one hour to follow the debates from the gallery. This is at the same time interesting, boring and amusing:
There is none of the controversy here which you have come to know from the House of Commons. Most decisions are taken in consent between the two mayor groups, i.e. the European People's Party (the group of centre-right parties of Europe, and one far-right one from the British Isles) and the European Socialists (New Labour, etc.).
MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) read dull speeches from papers prepared by their assistants. The debate is multilingual, everyone speaking in his mother tongue, with simultaneous translation into the twelve official languages of the EU.
If you're lucky, there will be a minister from one of the member states or an EU Commissioner who gives a special report. Only in this case will you see some of the desired controversy. Yet this usually not left against right, but rather the European Parliament against the rest of the world.
2. MEP'S CONSTITUENCY VISITOR GROUPS
Each MEP is entitled to one visitors group per year, which is then hosted and sponsored by the European Parliament. (Contact your MEP's office for possibility to attend.) This differs from the public visitors tour in a number of ways.
Most importantly, it's completely paid for by the Parliament, usually including travel expenses.
And of course you get to meet your MEP, who will proudly present his record in the Parliament, share some of his experiences of life in Brussels and in the Parliament, tell you some "insider jokes" he has told hundreds of people before, and will make sure to let you know how well he is serving your interests.
You are guided through the Parliament not by one of its bureaucrats, but usually by the MEP's political assistant, and that's probably the greatest advantage compared to the public tour. For he or she will take you to the offices, floors and cafeterias frequented by politicians, lobbyists and official guests. Here you may well run into someone you've seen on TV. On my first visit to the EP's Strasbourg site in 1990, I literally ran into Sir Geoffrey Howe, who had just been fired as British Foreign Secretary, but fully maintained his courtesy towards this foreign aggressor (me).
Depending on the mood of the assistant who leads you around, he/she will let you into some of the hidden back offices, where you can pick up official documents, policy papers, etc. On a whole, you gain a very good feeling of the dealings of parliament, and can smell the air inside politics.
3. BUSINESS VISIT
If you have a matter which you believe you have to discuss with your MEP (and he/she believes so, too), you can visit your MEP either in his constituency office, or in Brussels or Strasbourg. This is possible for small group of up to around five people, although there are several tricks to bring in more people on different lists, provided the MEP's consent.
These are entirely personal visits without a tour programme. Should you attempt to do that, the best way to gain access is to contact the MEP's Political Assistant in Brussels. An MEP usually has three assistants: a personal assistant (secretary) in his constituency, another one in Brussels, and a Political Assistant. The secretaries are keen to shelter their boss from outside interference, so always try to make direct contact with the Political guy/girl.
On these trips you can enjoy almost unlimited freedom, for the MEP or the assistant will get you access to the Parliament on his personal guests list, and once the meeting is over, you can freely move around (provided you don't create to much of a visitor's appearance). Put on a smart suit or dress, hide your visitor badge in the inside pocket and make an important face. You will be mistaken as part of the staff and can sneak around the whole site and put your nose into documents where you shouldn't put it. Finish the day with a coffee in the MEP's café and shake some important hands.
4. OFFICIAL ACCESS
If you go frequently to Brussels and have some kind of business that effects the EU (or, like myself, can come up with a good alibi), register yourself as a lobbyist. This requires some kind of endorsement, usually from your MEP (again, contact the Political Assistant). You will be issued an official pass to the EP and can enter almost everywhere at your own discretion.
Of all the national and international parliaments I have visited over the years as a tourist, student politician and lobbyist, the European Parliament is by far the most visitor friendly. This results mainly from its lax security standards. Once you've passed the registration desk, passport control and metal detector at the front entrance, it's pretty much up to yourself what you make out of your visitor card.
SURROUNDINGS
The European Quarter is full of restaurants with regional cuisine from all parts of Europe, catering for the needs 40,000 international staff at the European Union. Some of Brussels' best restaurants are to be found in the side streets of Rue de la Loi. Don't settle for the lunch in the EP visitors canteen but combine your visit with a culinary enjoyment in one of the restaurants outside.
The whole of Rue de la Loi is covered with souvenir shops selling everything from EU umbrellas to T-Shirts, etc. But the best shops are the Duty Frees for the EU staff members. If you are at good terms with your MEP's assistant, he/she may do some shopping for you. Apart from duty free alcohol and cigarettes, you can by food specialities from all over the EU.
The Palais Royal is only a ten minutes walk from Parliament. It has a nice park where you can relax between your important political meetings.
