Fons Margot

Today, for the second day in a row, I had the privilege of hosting to lunch a venerable Belgian. Yesterday it was my father-in-law, Jacques Vandamme, a lifelong European militant who, at the ripe old age of 87, is still busy with various academic activities related to European integration. Today, it was a former President of the EESC (1986-1988), Fons Margot who, at the even riper old age of 89, jokingly described Jacques Vandamme as a ‘youngster’ (they have known each other for a long time). In both cases, apart from the sprightly lucidity and intellectual vivacity, what always strikes me with such Belgian Europeans is the degree of knowledge they have about political and economic developments in neighbouring countries. Both Jacques and Fons are following the British General Election campaign closely, but they also spoke knowledgeably about French and German current affairs. I suppose one could explain this by observing that Belgians have traditionally had to notice what was going on around them but, still, they put us all to shame. A British, French or German citizen of a similar age and position would surely not be so knowledgeably aware or interested in the current affairs of neighbouring countries. Fons Margot has led a rich, full and fascinating life. It is also a typically European life and, if I get the chance, I am going to write up my recollections of what I learnt over the lunch, for his story deserves, I believe, to be recorded and better known. Wonderfully, Fons is currently writing his autobiography. The working title is Peace in times of war. When I have written up my notes (see, in due course,  ‘read the rest of this entry’), you will be able to see why. Continue reading

We saw Shutter Island this evening, another film born out of the Martin Scorsese-Leonardo Di Caprio partnership. With its depictions of madness and lunatic asylums and violent acts, this film cannot be described as being enjoyable, but it is good entertainment. Di Caprio acts brilliantly, Ben Kingsley puts in a strong performance, Scorsese keeps the tension taut and the musical score adds further to the brew. If I were a film critic, I’d have two quibbles with this film. The first is that the set-up seems familiar. Personally, I couldn’t get the basic plotting device of Sixth Sense out of my head. The second is that there is what writers call a ‘POV’ (point of view) problem in the film. The viewer is invited into a character’s delusional world and remains there for much of the film, but towards the end the POV switches to a more objective stance (the equivalent of third person in literature). There is, of course, nothing to stop a director doing this, but the brilliance of Sixth Sense, if I recall it correctly, is that the POV never changes – only the audience’s perception of what it was they were seeing.

Early this morning I chaired an emergency meeting to review the ash cloud situation and then went to the President with a recommendation, which he followed, to cancel all of the Committee’s meetings until Wednesday. We will review the situation tomorrow morning. It is not just about whether we can get our members to Brussels and back. We also considered the availability of interpretation (many interpreters are free-lancers who fly to Brussels for meetings). Above all, we do not wish to impose on members or on staff the sort of situation which our intrepid bus travellers from Madrid had to endure (left Madrid yesterday morning, arrived Brussels this morning at five). The President’s decision is a balanced one. Alas, the meeting of the Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society, scheduled for tomorrow, is a grievous loss and will have planning consequences for our consultative work and plenary agendas. But even if the flight ban had been lifted today, it would have been impossible for members to arrive in numbers for tomorrow morning.

At the suggestion of N° 2 sprog, we saw Clash of the Titans this evening, a fun romp through Greek mythology. The film is loosely based around the story of Perseus, and so we see a lot of Zeus and Hades and the Kraken (why do all cinematic monster’s mouths obligatorily look like the Alien?). At worst, such films are a lazy way to catch up on the classics, but maybe a more accessible one for younger generations. Indeed, it is somehow reassuring that, amid all the high-tech innovations of Avatar and the like, today’s cinema industry should still return to the ancient classics for a cracking plot.

Like, I am sure, many another Secretary General, I spent a fair bit of time on the telephone to colleagues yesterday and today, trying to coordinate various rescue operations and manage the unfolding situation. A group of members and colleagues stranded in Madrid finally boarded a bus this morning and will arrive back in Brussels around six tomorrow morning. A heroic administration found ways of getting most of the school students from our Friday event back to their homes but, as I write, we still have the Cypriots, Greeks and Estonians with us in Brussels. A mission of our Joint Consultative Committee with Turkey, our Round Table with China and a Monday morning hearing in Valencia have all been regretfully cancelled. Tomorrow morning I’ll be putting our business continuity plan into operation. Part of the problem is that the behaviour of the ash cloud and of the volcano that is causing it are unpredictable. In general, though, the Committee has so far coped reasonably well with this unprecedented situation. The photograph, by the way, shows our members and staff on their way back to Brussels from Madrid. My thanks to Mr Wauthier Robyns for this.

This morning, as usual, I jogged in the Forêt de Soignes before joining N° 2 sprog for the closing minutes of his football match. Normally, the pitches at Tervuren are constantly overflown by aircraft taking off from Zaventum. Habitually the planes do a sharp left after they take off and gradually climb over the playing fields. This morning there were no planes and there was no noise. And the forest was quiet, as forests should be. On Friday morning the BBC’s Today radio programme broadcast a minute of the silence in the air over London and told its listeners that this was probably a once-in-a-generation experience. The curious thing – and I have seen no explanation for this – is that all aircraft are grounded, including lower-flying helicopters and propeller-driven planes. I know that this crisis is causing a lot of grief and is already having dreadful economic consequences (African flower and vegetable producers, for example, are having to throw away their rotting crops). We must all hope that it can be speedily resolved. On the other hand, I wonder whether the silence we have gained will remain only as a simple folk memory. It has, in any case, given us insights, in more than one sense, into how one aspect of our lives used to be.

We spent this evening in the beautiful Flemish city of Mechelen, in the Stadsschouwburg, following the Flemish Open Brass Band Championship. What took me there was my friendship with composer Nigel Clarke and the poem he commissioned from me to accompany his new composition, Earthrise.  Nigel is the composer-in-residence for the Belgian champion brass band, Brassband Buizingen. There were six bands in the finals: Amsterdam Brass, Festival Brassband, Brassband Buizingen, Noord-Limburgse Brassband, Brassband Willebroek, and Provinciale Brassband Gronigen. Each had to play a set-piece exercise, and then two other pieces. There were strict time limits, with each band getting thirty minutes overall and with a narrow fifteen minutes between each band. The bands drew lots to decide the order in which they would play. Brassband Buizingen drew the last place. There is a whole competitive world out there about which, before Nigel drew me into it, I knew nothing. The Bands had their rival supporters and at times they got quite raucous. There was a strong rivalry between Willebroek and Buizingen in particular. Buizingen beat Willebroek to be Belgium’s representative at the European championships (Willebroek won the championships in 2008), which will be held in Linz in a month’s time. So tonight the two bands had different strategies. Willebroek were out to win – and they did. Buizingen, on the other hand knew they couldn’t win, since they are still polishing a new piece for Linz, but they showed Willebroek that they could have done if they had opted for a classic, since they won first prize for their execution of the set-piece exercise. The atmosphere was great. There was a beer tent on the square and to cap it all four young musicians from Brassband Buizingen, in an ensemble called Exit_Brass!, gave a very witty pastiche of Michael Jackson’s hits before the results were announced. It was a memorable and most enjoyable occasion and, oh, yes, I got to read my poem to the band. But the most extraordinary aspect of the whole event was that – amazing though, really – although the level of the musicianship was extraordinary, every single musician was an amateur.

Hallo, beautiful

You read and saw right. The dog took me for a nice, long run in the Forêt de Soignes this morning and in the middle of the forest we came across one of these fellows. He was ambling along the path quite nonchalantly. The dog didn’t know what to make of him but the pig wasn’t in the slightest bit aggressive. I stopped and walked alongside him for a while. I know that people keep these animals as pets. What had happened? Had he escaped? Or had he been dumped by his owner? In any case, he looked sad, in a strangely Asiatic sort of way. Famously, there is a colony of wallabies on Exmoor – the result of an escape from a private zoo. Is there, I wonder, a colony of Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs in the Forêt de Soignes?

Another advantage of my enforced presence in Brussels was that I was able to see that debate yesterday evening. I must immediately eat my hat for, contrary to what I previously wrote, it was not staid. The dynamics were anything but. Moreover, there was a ‘surprise’ ‘winner’, in the form of Nick Clegg (all of the polls identified his performance as the best and support for his party immediately jumped). I don’t know whether, as Gordon Brown has said, the debate has energised the campaign, but on the basis of this showing it was certainly a worthwhile innovation. There were two other ‘surprises’. David Cameron, undoubtedly a skilful communicator, did not score the easy victory that some pundits expected of him. And Gordon Brown did not come across in the tired and negative way that some pundits had expected of him. Cameron was also at a subtle disadvantage as the man in the middle. I have put inverted commas around various words because the bookies had Clegg as the favourite for this debate and also it was always clear that Cameron and Brown, as pretender and incumbent, would have to concentrate their fire on each other. There were no disastrous gaffes, there was no killer blow, and all three parties are claiming that their candidates did well and, on balance, that’s probably right. Maybe the campaign will now come to life. I would certainly love to be a fly on the wall in the tactical discussions the two major parties must now be having!

As Secretary General I am frequently torn between competing activities and priorities. As my previous post pointed out, I should have been in Madrid today. But my enforced presence in Brussels enabled me to attend and participate in another important meeting. At the excellent initiative of our Vice-President with responsibility for communication, Irini Pari, the Committee this morning hosted groups of school students representing 19 of the 27 member states. Travel difficulties made it impossible, alas, for all of our invitees to be present, and so the groups from eight member states just couldn’t make it. The schools represented had been chosen from among 900 who had applied.  As I write this, the students are busy in working groups considering a draft Committee opinion on a Commission proposal for an EU strategy to reduce alcohol-related harm. They are working just as our members would work, in study groups, with draft documents in translation and with interpreters. They have tabled amendments (of strikingly excellent quality) and this afternoon, in a plenary session, they will vote on the amendments and adopt their opinion. Throughout this process they are being accompanied by some of our ‘real’ members. By the end of today, they will have a very real insight into how the Committee works and why its work is important. So, because of that volcanic ash, I had the pleasure of being able to welcome them, together with Irini Pari and Georges Dassis, to the Committee and the workshop. It’s a simple idea but a brilliant one, and the students have taken to their tasks like ducks to water. I have posted a copy of my introductory remarks below. It was a pleasure and a privilege to welcome them. Continue reading