My grandfather said ‘every month you must go to Rome if you want to get what you need for your hometown’. He was a top civil servant in my hometown Bologna. It was the 30s and Mussolini ruled in Italy.
My grandfather wasn’t a fascist but he obeyed (he said). So he went to Rome in the same way that I regularly go to Brussels. This is not just a habit in my family. Have you ever seen the TV show Rome? So you know since the Roman Empire there have been clientes.
At the time they woke up early in the morning to go to the house of dominus asking for favors and receiving obolo, the daily bread. At least once a month I wake up at dawn to catch up the Eurostar and go to Brussels for meetings with European officials and MEPs.
However, there are many other civil society leaders who don’t travel as much but settle down in the capital and live close to power. Have you ever heard about Brussels civil society?
I found this nice expression in the paper of Dr Annette Zimmer, an academic at the Muenster University. They have a study center for civil society in Europe. Huff, more papers to read!
I used to call it the Brussels bubble but Herr Doctor is right: within the Bubble there is a specific community. They are the expatriates from across Europe and the US. They left their country not to defend its interests more effectively but – you can’t believe it – because they love the EU, Brussels lifestyle and working in the bubble. Actually, normally they can’t stand their fellow citizens and domestic politics. More shocking news: there’s plenty of Americans and Brits!
I must confess I love working in Brussels too but can’t understand this civil society. They are antagonistic, competitive, chatty but poor in delivery except for few. At least I have befriended the best ones.
The new trend is to set up a new European platform, network or federation and claim it’s the truly unique representative of civil society in Europe. By the end of the year we will be able to count a Civil Society Liaison Group, Civil Society Contact Group, House of Civil Society, European Platform of National Platforms of Civil Society, and Chamber of Civil Society. I might be involved as well. I’ve been asked to gather an informal group of civil society Brussels-based leaders.
How would you explain such mushrooming of civil society infrastructures? Simple. If you dwell next to the power, you might get the crumbles. Moreover, the EU needs us to tackle its legitimacy crisis: ‘Citizens trust us!’. So institutions have to pay if they want our help. OK the message is not so straightforward but this is the result.
The march is rolling and I will play at the flank from my safe London headquarters … as England did in the continental wars. Who will prevail? We will see. Let’s play now!
