January 2012

The beginning of 2012 has been incredibly busy. The Danish Presidency of the EU Council finally began and there’s been a lot going on since New Year’s. Here goes a brief summary of my month of January. For the sake of ease, I expect to do my blog entirely in English from now on.

The year began in Copenhagen, where I spent Christmas and New Year’s Eve. There’s a short post on that below. January 1st was a busy day, because I had to empty my apartment since I’m subletting it until I return from Brussels. On January 2nd, I flew “home” to Brussels and pretty much went straight to work.

The first week was not too busy workwise. Much of the EU system was still on holiday, but we did have our first working group meeting. The essence of the Presidency is that for the next six months, Denmark is chairman of the Council of the European Union, which together with the European Parliament constitutes the legislative branch of the EU. The Council covers ten sectorial formations, which are again split up into a multitude of working parties, where most of the negotiations between member states take place on a technical level. The attachés from the Danish Representation chair these working parties, and I assist my attachés in this task.

The first meeting was in my main working party on Competitiveness and Growth, COMPCRO for short, where the Presidency along with the Commission presented the priorities and plans for the coming six months. It went very well. After the meetings, one of my tasks is usually to write a brief version of the minutes (called a ”flash”) from the meeting, and send it to the relevant people in Brussels and Copenhagen.

As I said, the first week wasn’t too heavy with work, so I did manage to get out a couple of nights. There was a reception at the Confederation of Danish Industry on Thursday, and on Saturday I went to a pretty nice bar/club called Potemkine.

In the second week of January, the pace definitely picked up. I had three working group meetings and a lot of other stuff to attend to. Very briefly, the meetings concerned the following EU legislative files: (you may skip it, if it’s too dry)

   IMI: The Internal Market Information System is a electronic tool through which national authorities can communicate and exchange information with each other across borders. The system is already functioning, but it is now provided with a formal legal basis.

   Standardisation: An important aspect of the internal market is standardisation, because using the same standards for products (say electrical outlets) across Europe makes it easier and more efficient to produce and trade goods. The reform of the standardisation system is intended to make things run more smoothly and increase participation of relevant stakeholders.

   COSME: The Commission’s programme for Competitiveness and SMEs is going to offer different support measures for small and medium-sized enterprises in light of the economic crisis, notably through access to finance. It is a continuation of a current programme, which has been relatively successful.

All of the meetings went very well and good progress was made already on the first meetings during the Danish Presidency. The COSME meeting on Friday was interrupted by a bomb scare at the Council building, but luckily there was never any danger!

That week, my roommates and I went for dinner at one of the ”Danish houses” where five of the other Danish interns live. We had a really nice meal inspired by the Arabic infuences in their neighbourhood and we are planning to return the favour with an African dinner inspired by our neighbourhood of Ixelles/Matongé.

On the weekend, I got a little extra EU input when I went to the visitor centre of the European Parliament called Parlamentarium. It has a really cool and thorough exhibition of the story of the EU and the Parliament. Later, we went to a local sports bar to watch Denmark’s first match at the Handball European Championship – we won that match and went on to win the whole tournament, by the way.

In the third week of January, there was another meeting in the working party on IMI, which went really well. Also, we had our first meeting in the Trade Policy Committee (TPC) – basically the same as a working party – in the subgroup dedicated to services and investment. My attachés recently switched who will be the chair of the group on services, but I will keep following the work of that committee. The meetings mainly consist of the Commission informing/debriefing on recent negotiations with third countries, since the European Commission has a mandate to act on behalf of the EU member states in this field. It is pretty interesting albeit very technical.

That weekend, I went to Amsterdam with my fellow intern Charlotte. It was a fabolous trip; there's a separate blog post about it.

The last week of January was very busy indeed and full of first-ever experiences!

I went to my first meeting involving directly a member of the European Parliament (MEP for short), which was pretty cool. I also went to a lawyer-linguist review, which basically means a legal analysis of the language of new EU legislation. It sounds (and is) pretty dry, but it did provide an interesting view of one of the many functions that keep the whole EU machinery running.

The week was also really busy because the Danish government had to present the Danish Presidency priorities to the committees of the European Parliament. In the course of two days, 26 presentations were made by 16 different ministers from Denmark. This included four presentations by the minister for Business and Growth, whose ministry/section I work for at the Danish Representation. The whole thing was very successful and bodes well for the Danish Presidency.

Finally, the week was busy due to a number of events taking place around Brussels. Monday, I went to a reception concerning sustainable energy, which had an amazing selection of food and drinks. Wednesday, I was back at the Parliament for a reception hosted in honour of the Danish Presidency with the attendance of the Danish Minister for European Affairs, the Danish Commissioner and a number of Danish MEPs. That was another first to see those people. 

Thursday, I went to the concert hall at Place Flagey for the official opening concert of the Danish Presidency – attended again by the Minister for European Affairs, but also the President of the European Council Herman van Rompuy and the Crown Prince and Princess of both Denmark and Belgium. Pretty cool. The concert was with the Danish Radio Big Band – smooth and jazzy.

That weekend, we made dinner on Friday and caught up with the Danish season of X-Factor, and on Saturday, I went out for dinner and an improvised Brussels pub crawl with Charlotte.

The month ended with a informal summit of the European Council, which consists of the heads of state from all 27 member states. Among other things, agreement was reached on the new treaty on fiscal discipline in the Eurozone – an agreement that Denmark also chose to join. I didn't work specifically with this, and since all our working meetings were cancelled due to the summit, the office was full of people for a change. Furthermore, the meeting coincided with a national strike in Belgium, so it was a bit of an unusual day altogether.

On Tuesday, I held a dinner for some of the Danish interns and Wednesday, I went for dinner with some international interns.

It's been a really busy month, but it feels great to have started the Presidency. After all, this is what we're here for, and I believe we have made a great start! Also, I should mention that I'm not dating James anymore, which was tough at first, but I'm coping.

So, that was it for now. Congrats if you made it all the way through :) I will keep you posted on my further adventures in Brussels!


For the record; please note that this blog is entirely personal and has no official connection to the Danish Presidency of the EU Council 2012.

Amsterdam

Charlotte and I went for a weekend break in Amsterdam in the middle of January. She’s been there five times before whereas it was my first time there.

We took the train from Bruxelles Centrale at 2:30 on Friday and arrived in Amsterdam about three hours later. The trip there is rather uneventful, but it does go through the major cities of Rotterdam and The Hague. Amsterdam Centraal is just north of the city centre. From there, we took the tram to our hotel near Leidseplein. Let’s be honest; it wasn’t exactly luxury, but it was more than fine for a couple nights of sleep.

After checking into the hotel, we went out to take a look at the neighbourhood. We went to the supermarket and found a nice restaurant in Korte Leidsedwarsstraat. After a quick change back at the hotel, we went to the area Amstel near Rembrandtplein and the river. There, we tried out a range of the many bars and clubs: Club Nasty (and indeed it was), Cinema, Bolle Jan (first word means fat in Dutch and something else in Danish), Montmartre and Rogue. We had lots of fun and talked to some interesting people. Unfortunately, we also ran into some pickpockets, so my phone got stolen. Bummer, but oh well – nothing else happened to us.

The late night incident meant we had to start Saturday at the police station filing a report, but luckily the lady there was very helpful and efficient. We then started our day of sightseeing with a canal cruise, which started outside the train station. It’s somewhat similar to Copenhagen, only Amsterdam’s beautiful canals and 17th century architecture are much vaster. I’m definitely a great fan! 

Afterwards, we walked around the town centre, the shopping street, the royal palace and the area of Nine Streets. 

We ended up at Anne Frank’s House, where we had tickets for a presentation and tour Saturday night. The story of their hiding and eventual capturing during World War II is very moving and captivating, and the house pays great tribute to the Frank family’s story.

From there we walked through the Red Light District and found a cool and chic restaurant in the centre called Brasserie Harkema. After a quick stop at the hotel, we went to the area around Leidseplein and checked out a few different bars; Njoy was a fancy cocktail lounge and Pirates was less fancy and more full of crazy teenagers.

Sunday was a beautiful day, so we decided to rent bikes and see Amsterdam from a saddle. I’ve drawn our route on the map below, and as you can see, we covered quite a bit of ground – about 10 miles / 16 kilometers.

We started out at the Van Gogh Museum, which was very nice and neatly sized. Next we went on to G-Star Raw, which I had to visit since it’s one of my favourite brands and happens to be Dutch.

From there, we headed west through the neighbourhood of Jordan with more beautiful canals and a stop at a lovely café. Then through the city centre, where we stopped for an Italian lunch. Finally, we made a big loop to the east, circling the zoo and a more industrial area. The final stretch back along one of the outer canals was pretty windy, but all in all it was a fantastic way of seeing the city!

We had a goodbye pancake, handed in the bicycles and bought a few souvenirs before heading back to Amsterdam Centraal to catch our train to Brussels at 8.

Awesome weekend – loving Amsterdam!

Life in Brussels

For a while I've been meaning to make a little tour of my everyday life here in Brussels - you may call it a virtual photo safari. I'm hoping it will give you an impression of my current life and surroundings.


We'll start at my (i.e. our) apartment in the street Chaussée de Wavre in the neighborhood of Ixelles. I live behind the faded glass windows facing the street. On the right is the supermarket closest to us. It's the German discount store Lidl, which is fine for basic stuff but nothing extraordinary.

Besides grocery shopping, other practicalities right around the corner from our apartment include dry cleaning (left) and the gym (right) that I try to attend as often as possible.

Next, there's my office - The Permanent Representation of Denmark to the European Union - where I spent much of my time. The seven-story office building also houses the Danish Embassy to Belgium. The section I work for, Business and Growth, is located on the second floor.

From time to time, we get important visitors at the Representation, not least now during the Presidency. In the fall, we were visited by the new Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who in this picture is standing in our canteen along with the Danish minister for European Affairs and the Permanent Representative, also known as Denmark's EU Ambassador.

Just as important is the Council building which is the home of the Council of the European Union. Here, all the working parties, COREPER and Council meetings take place. The role of the Danish Representation is to represent Denmark's government in these meetings, which is why much of our time is spent in this very building. It is named Justus Lipsius after a famous Belgian philologist and humanist from the 16th century.

Inside, Justus Lipsius features a large atrium which is decorated by the incumbent Presidency for the Council of the EU. On the left, you can see the Polish decor from the second half of 2011 and on the right, the Danish for the first half of 2012.

And here are a couple of pictures to give you an idea of what a typical meeting would look like.

We also attend a number of conferences, hearings etc.

Another important EU location is the European Parliament, where we also cover many meetings. It is conveniently situated right between my apartment and the Danish Representation. It is adjacent to the square called Place du Luxembourg, where many EU professionals go out for well-deserved drinks on Thursdays and Fridays at one of the numerous bars and cafés.

And of course, it's not all work. There are quite a few events and receptions. Just this past week, I went to the Parliament for a reception and to the official opening concert for the Danish Presidency, which was attended by the President of the European Council Herman van Rompuy and the Crown Prince and Princess of both Denmark and Belgium.

Christmas and New Year's in Copenhagen

They say that "Home is where the heart is". As it turned out, on December 20, 2011, I felt like I was going home to Denmark to celebrate Christmas and New Year's, but on January 2, 2012, I also felt that I was going back home to Brussels.

I had a really great time back in Copenhagen. I spent a lot of time with my family, and I got to see many good friends and catch up. Very nice indeed!

I spent Christmas Eve with my parents, brother, two aunts and two cousins, which was a lovely evening of traditional Danish food (pork roast, duck and rice pudding), presents and hygge, which to the non-Danish speakers is a very Danish concept that loosely translates to coziness.

I spent New Year's Eve with my brother and three friends. We made a really nice dinner, saw the Queen's New Year's speech and the short movie '90th birthday' as prescribed by tradition, and enjoyed plenty of champagne and fireworks right around midnight. 

It was a great night to greet 2012!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!