David Friggieri | Sunday, 28 June 2009

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The unbearable lightness of Brussels

Malta’s newly elected MEPs will spend the next five years jetting between an island steeped in history and a post-national city known for its beer, chocolates and cartoon characters. I asked a group of friends who have lived here for a number of years to describe what they feel about Europe’s strange capital, a place whose lack of strong identity attracts and disappoints in equal measure…

This exchange is between two friends, an enthusiastic Greek and a critical Italian.

Christos: The recent round of European elections proved that this country is one of the most interesting in the EU: a healthy participation rate, the collapse of the extreme right in the North, the most important ecological movement in Europe, real political dialogue, concrete political proposals from the parties for the improvement of citizens’ every day life.
Marco: High turnout only due to mandatory voting is hardly a great hallmark of democracy. Extreme right-wing parties are still very strong (although admittedly their popularity is down from an all-time high in 2007). A political discourse remarkably uninteresting for the man in street. Elections leaving the real choice of government to political parties after the elections, thanks to an anachronistic, fully proportional voting system.
Christos: The non-nationalistic character of the Bruxellois, their openness and low profile are cultural trends that make my life easier.
Marco: I agree, these characteristics do make life easy, but sometimes unbearably light. The lack of a thick culture is the single most disturbing thing in Brussels: great to ensure quick integration of the newcomers, it leaves the long-term residents always wondering, “What is Belgian-ness all about?” Any tentative definition consists only of litotes: non-nationalistic, non-non-non-no, in other words: non-descript!
Christos : The “sens du compromis à la Belge” is one of the most beautiful cultural contributions to Europe. It should be studied, imitated and exported.
Marco: Yes, they are great at the art of compromise because they lack any distinct feature themselves. But definitely, this is a positive externality.
Christos: I adore the sudden and often abrupt changes of the weather from dark to grey with some sunny intervals. The sound of the rain pattering on the roof of my house is one of the most beautiful musical pleasures I can get. People are open-minded, religion is absent, women are beautiful, sexy and free of taboos.
Marco: I couldn’t disagree more, well, about the women at least. Lacklustre, narrow-minded, coincées (prudish), average-looking at best. Either we live in two different cities, or you are talking about the many Eastern European women we are blessed with… As for religion, oh yeah, that can be a blessing – but it also accounts for the lack of any real national culture and ethos. In fact my most recurrent definition of Belgians is “poveri di spirito”...
Christos: A good education system and a healthcare system which ranks second or third in the world in terms of quality. Scientific research is among the best. Besides, the Belgian sense of humour, “auto derision” and humility are signs of true intelligence.
Marco: I’d agree, if many other traits did not militate against a Belgian emotional intelligence, which is conspicuous by its absence. Have you ever tried to be served in a restaurant or shop when closing time is approaching? Ever paid attention to how the average Belgian behaves at the wheel? A glaring lack of empathy is what best characterises this people.
Christos: We can start the relation with Brussels as “un mariage de raison” but after some time we fall desperately in love with this city. I wish that I could have a passport or identity card mentioning – nationality: “Bruxellois”!
Marco: If you ask me, a relationship with Brussels is one in which you fall into easily, because it’s comfortable and she does not give you a hard time. A few years down the line, you find yourself wondering whether an easy relationship is what really makes you happy…

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A city which desperately lacks colours and space (no river…), with no spirit, where people come with great expectations for a short period and stay for a long time trying to persuade themselves that it’s actually nice here and that there’s no ideal place in the world anyway...
PS It’s no place to be if you want to avoid getting into a “mariage de raison”!
Martina, 30, Czech
 
When the Palais de Justice in Brussels was to be built, the architect announced his grandiosely ambitious plan to incorporate into the building all of the architectural styles of all of the world’s great cultures. True to his word, J. Poelart and his successors constructed a testament to the eclectic style, including Roman and Greek columns, Babylonian and Byzantine elements, Asian and Egyptian mosaics and motifs, and a host of other subtle and not-so-subtle nods to the styles of far-off lands. The result is a building which, while impressive from afar, and even attractive from up close, gets more culturally confusing and deformed the longer you stare at it. This, in a nutshell, is the bizarre and unique cultural mélange which is Brussels.
Sean, 29, American

The city is a mix, so it is easy to fit in it… hard to live in it in the long term but it is even harder to leave it… if not for long and sunny holidays!
Anna, 27, Slovak

Many people look the same. Same background, same experiences, same interests, same language skills, all this makes you feel easily substitutable and one among many others. A face in the crowd.
Mario, 35, Italian

Brussell ghal haddiem tal-UE hija dak li dejjem nitkellmu dwaru – sens ta’ libertà, belt multikulturali li donnha qed tahdem; tfajliet sbieh; opportunitajiet u hajja trankwilla. Izda wkoll nuqqas qawwi ta’ sens ta’ appartenenza u involviment, anonimita’. Izda fuq kollox sess, xorb u trattati…
George, 28, Maltese

I’d just add another point to this list... a city with a critical mass of wankers who finally found a place which unites them.
Michelle, 30, Maltese

On a good day my vision of Brussels is a city you can keep on discovering, with hidden gems around every corner, from the art nouveau architecture to great design and bars off the beaten track – and all with an international and surrealist touch. But that is on a good day. When the multicultural fatigue sets in, the administration is doing your head in and your rootlessness becomes less liberating and more unsettling... well on those days Brussels is just a grey, admin-heavy, bureaucratic nesting place for individuals who have been rejected by their homeland and who need the distance of cultural differences to suggest that they have some personality or mystique.
Rachel, 32, British

It struck me recently that in the radio news they announced that the scaffolding of the Palais de Justice which was mounted some 20 years ago in order to renovate the Palais’s facade needs to be renovated itself. The radio commentator himself ridiculed this story saying that this was typically belgo-belge. In more personal terms, I would characterize Brussels’ social life as “encuentros y desencuentros”. I don’t have an English or French word for it. You meet people, get immediately close with them, exchange e-mails, SMS etc. and then you move on. This is quite repetitive. I don’t know whether this is similar in other cities but I have not experienced it like this before... Back home you are considered the well-paid, tax-exempt, not-working-too hard guy from Eurocratia who should beware of losing touch with “real life”.
Patrick, 40, German

For a city whose most remarkable landmark is a wee pissing boy, you would be forgiven for thinking that Brussels is a bit of an anti-climax. For starters, it seems to lack a strong sense of identity, which characterises other European capitals. But the positive corollary is that one does not feel like an outsider for long, though that is not to say that one easily feels like an insider. This is probably due to the fact that expats and locals tend to keep at arms length from each other. This is not a fractious relationship, but rather a tacitly agreed non-relationship. But who really cares when you have a thriving cultural scene, hundreds of beers on tap and excellent restaurants to indulge in? Pity about the weather though...
Alex, 33, Maltese

Easy life!
John, 38, British

A place where you really appreciate the importance of the sun (at least if you come from the south of Italy); a place with many excellent beers until your liver decides that smoothies are better; a place with a very high percentage of singles; a place where people often complain about their job (but this is probably true everywhere); a place where you want to escape from when the weekend approaches; a place where you sometimes miss your homeland and old friends; a place where the natives are often an unknown factor; a place you may secretly get to love when you accept all these flaws.
Roberto, 30, Italian

Brussels has an additional advantage: situated in the middle of Europe, it’s quite easy to escape at the weekend.
It’s like working on an oil rig, you arrive on Monday morning by “helicopter”, you leave on Friday afternoon and in one or two hours, you find yourself in a place where you really feel well.
Georg, 52, German

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