The Eurocrat Factory
I was fascinated by this RFE/RL article about how they make Eurocrats:
Tucked in among the cobblestoned streets and canals of the Flemish town of Bruges, 100 kilometers southeast of Brussels, this small university has produced tens of thousands of bureaucrats, lobbyists, and lawyers since it was founded in 1949. ...
Nevertheless, most College of Europe graduates sooner or later end up in Brussels, where they sometimes are referred to as the "Bruges mafia." The college's alumni boast an extensive network with an uncanny ability to land its members plum jobs in EU institutions or within the web of private companies and organizations seeking to influence the agenda in Brussels.
But I think more telling even than the description of the place is that line, "tucked in among the cobblestone streets and canals ... "
This is Bruges:
Doesn't that really say it all?
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Re: The Eurocrat Factory
So, instead of enarques, there are Euro-narques?
Oct '11
Re: The Eurocrat Factory
It does say it all (I almost didn't comment)!
May '10
Re: The Eurocrat Factory
We honeymooned in Brugge, and took the kids there for our 20th. An awe-inspiring gem of a place, but more a museum than a living city.
Mar '11
Re: The Eurocrat Factory
As Mr Steyn likes to point out, the same can be said for the whole of Europe.
I've also been to Bruges, and can confirm that it is delightful. Nice beer, also :-)
It was the seemingly unlikely venue for a conference on computer chip manufacturing - one of the few industries where Belgium (and Europe) still leads the World.
Edited on Oct 29, 2011 at 8:27amSep '10
Re: The Eurocrat Factory
Indeed. No wonder European thinking is stuck in a romantic but bygone past.
Jun '10
Re: The Eurocrat Factory
My initial response was "it's sinking!" Just a momentary trick on the eyes, I suppose, but still . . .
May '10
Re: The Eurocrat Factory
It also headquarters of the United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS), Of course Belgium has not had a functioning government for some time since elections in June 2010, due to the usual Flemish Walloon lack of integration. The current government continues in caretaker mode.
Edited on Oct 29, 2011 at 9:02amJul '10
Re: The Eurocrat Factory
"We build our buildings," said Winston Churchill, "and then they build us." It takes a building like those hideous opening boxes to create a Eurocrat. Interesting how they obviously wished to make a clean break from the city around them. Far from being romantic, Leslie, they fancy themselves modern and far-seeing. I would prefer it if they were romantic and stuck in the bygone past. Then they might be Burkean Conservatives. They are not.
May '10
Re: The Eurocrat Factory
I wish they were rooted in the past, not stuck in it.
Mar '11
Re: The Eurocrat Factory
Yep, down by the bow and listing hard to port.
Oh, you meant the picture. Yeah, that too.
Aug '10
Re: The Eurocrat Factory
What is approximate compensation for an EU parlimentarian , the whole package deal ?
Dec '10
Re: The Eurocrat Factory
Flemish hostility towards all things French is so pervasive, when asking a gasoline station attendant for directions to Lille a few miles from the border, instead of pronouncing the word, he wrote on a piece of paper Rijsel = Lille.
Bruges not only floats in the miasma of Eurosclerosis, surrounding it is a clutter of patchwork urban sprawl so hideous that until you pass through the massive tower gate, you are always looking over your shoulder wondering if it’s too late to turn back before a nearby Virgil has mistaken you for Dante and is already escorting you on the journey from Limbo into the second ring of hell. Which makes the shock of the old city’s medieval timelessness and grace all the more mesmerizing once inside its confines.
Inside, it is like a Northern Siena. But Tuscan hills and fields still surround Siena undisturbed. No one is surprised to see a horse escorted into its quarter’s parish church for a blessing just before the running of the Palio.
Still, it is stunning today to hear Merkel inflame fear in the hearts of Europeans with the threat that the breakup of the Eurozone will inevitably lead to war.
Oct '10
Re: The Eurocrat Factory
A new phrase perhaps, BeuroClones ? Seems the US is not immune either.
Dec '10
Re: The Eurocrat Factory
What if all these inbred eurocrats woke up one morning and there was no Europe left to manipulate in stylish but meaningless ways?
What if Atlas Shrugged?
Sep '10
Re: The Eurocrat Factory
The best thing about the movie In Bruges a few years ago was Bruges.
Jan '11
Re: The Eurocrat Factory
Hey, that was a great movie: dark, witty, hilarious, and bizarrely Catholic. Unfortunately, Ricochet's code of conduct prohibits me from quoting any of it.
Dec '10
Re: The Eurocrat Factory
"how they make Eurocrats"
There appears to be a defect in the manufacturing process. Specifically, the attachment of testicles and the installation of spines seems to be overlooked.