'Spaceship Brussels', 07-09 October 2009
Group picture with Reinhard Bütikofer. Photo © European Parliament
Von Carlino Antpöhler
A study tour themed 'Spaceship Brussels' led us, 25 scholarship holders of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, by invitation of Reinhard Bütikofer from 7th till 9th October 2009 to Brussels. We started off visiting the European Parliament (EP). After a short introduction by the visitors` service about the European decision-making process, we met our host Reinhard Bütikofer, newly elected member of the European Parliament for the Greens /European Free Alliance. An interesting discussion unfolded about day-to-day work in the parliament, the (nonexistent) frustration of being member of one of the smaller groups and an evaluation of the recent German national election campaign.
Before bringing the day to a close, we visited a plenary session of the EP. Since it was quite late already, the plenum emptied out noticeably and in the so-called ‘one-minute speeches on matters of political importance’ the members endeavoured to communicate the pressing issues which they had on their minds. The topics ranged from the Slovakian-Hungarian dispute on minority rights, a harangue on the Lisbon Treaty by a defender of British independence to the alleged impacts on the Sagrada Familia, a roman catholic church in Barcelona, by the expansion of the Barcelonan underground. After a long first day we were all looking forward to sink into the soft beds of the hotel.
Thereafter we met with another green Member of the European Parliament, Jan Philipp Albrecht. As recently elected, with 26 years youngest German and second youngest member overall, he provided us with his perspective about the traditions and operational procedures of the EP. We eagerly discussed about his field of work, civil liberties, justice and home affairs, as well as about the perception of Europe in Germany. Finally we met Ines Hartwig, who is working in the European Commission. She talked about her work on social impact assessment and evaluation and scared us off any thought of applying with her description of the European Commission’s challenging selection procedure (the so called Concours). Bringing the day to a close, we got to know about the work of an NGO umbrella organisation, the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO). EPLO has 25 member organisations which share an interest in promoting sustainable peacebuilding policies among decision-makers in the European Union. Among others EPLO arranges and advocates for civil society participation in meetings in Brussels and the Member States.
Likewise the first appointment of the next morning was supposed to deal with the representation of civil society: a visit to the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). However, the selective representation of civil society and the appointment procedure of the representatives of this largely unknown body provoked discomfort amongst the students. Similarly, the insufficient consideration of a gender perspective met criticism. Much more interesting and from my point of view one of the highlights of the visit was the subsequent Lobbytour through Brussels organised by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO). A CEO staff member described on different locations in Brussels how lobbyists, lawyer`s offices and spin doctors significantly influence the daily work of the institutions.
Special thanks to Annett Waltersdorf, who has done an excellent job in organizing the trip and who accompanied us by the use of all her physical fitness (organizing keys in the pouring rain), the foundation in Brussels and Berlin who have been involved in the preparation, as well as Reinhard Bütikofer, who initiated the trip in the first place.
