DAY 279 - BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

Thursday 26 January, 2012

2698.3 miles/ 6,061,601 steps

One statistic tells you all you need to know about Brussels: it is home to 286 lobbying consultancies. I do not mean in any way to be disparaging to lobbying organisations, but more just state the obvious that this is a political power capital of the world – in many ways superseding Washington DC in terms of its international reach and economic influence, though not I suspect in terms of the number of lobbyists.

I ponder whether we might describe Brussels as the political capital of the world, Geneva as the diplomatic capital of the world, London as the global financial capital, Washington as the military capital, Jerusalem as the religious capital, and New York as the honorary capital of the world. This is no arrogance on the part of Western civilisation; it is just a statement of the present facts, which are changing. As we all know, Power is shifting east at a rapid rate with economic power in the vanguard as always.

My visits in Brussels showcased the city’s influence with a timetable put together at very short notice by the excellent team at the British Embassy in Belgium: HMA Jonathan Brenton, Maeve Patterson, and Amanda Moss. My first stop was at the European Parliament to listen to Wilfried Lemke, the legendary German football coach and current adviser to the UN Secretary General, deliver an excellent address on the role of sport in promoting peace and development.

From there I went off to do an interview for De Laatste Show, a hugely successful and well organised programme. I was on between a Moroccan cook from Antwerp and an author who wanted to write a book on French history that Belgians might read and therefore decided to split it into three sections – the first on French cooking, the second on French history, and the third of French sexual practices: Nice try I thought, although I suspected that only one third of the book would be read and it wouldn’t be history.

The very fact that I could conduct a 10 minute interview on prime time Belgian TV in English convicts me about our/my own weakness in foreign languages. Belgium has three official languages – Flemish, Dutch and French in addition to one unofficial language, English. I suspect that when you learn a language you also learn more about your own language and something much deeper of the culture from which the language has been formed. I have had every opportunity to learn French on this walk; I have spent almost three months in the country and have listened to seventy episodes of ‘Coffee Break French’ on my iPod. The problem is that I haven’t had to ask people much what time it is, or tell them what town I come from, whilst when it comes to ordering food, ‘Six Chicken McNuggets’ seems to be a pretty universal language. That said, language can also be used to mark out difference and nowhere is this more so than in Belgium, which is rigidly divided along linguistic boundaries. A bumbling British backpacker speaking traveller’s English – slow, loud, and apologetic will receive a pleasant welcome in any bar or cafe, but woe betide the unsuspecting French speaker Walloon who seeks to address his Flemish fellow countryman in French. I ponder whether we can ever have a single European market without a single language. Discuss.

I was invited to stay at the Residence of the British Ambassador in Rue Ducale, which is a splendid building, albeit showing its age (aren’t we all). The Residence is managed by the ultra efficient Isabelle van Stratum, who seems to effortlessly manage the demands of receptions, conferences, guests, and meetings in a way that would require a staff of twenty in a similar sized hotel. I arrive back from the television programme to find a reception in full swing for the new UK Permanent Representative to the EU – Sir Jon Cunliffe. The post of the UK Permanent Representative is second only to Washington DC in the UK diplomatic hierarchy (see earlier point on power) and as such normally goes to a very senior figure within the Foreign Office. They don’t come much more senior that Sir Jon Cunliffe; as someone who served as Gordon Brown’s adviser on European and GlobalIssues, as well as Managing Director of Macroeconomic police and International Finance, he had a ring-side seat to what went wrong and hopefully this will be helpful in getting it right.

Another formidable civil servant was to greet me the next morning on arrival at NATO HQ as I was met by Mariot Leslie, the UK Permanent Representative. Given the scale of the international crisis, it is amazing that diplomats are able to spare any time to meet with me; I am not sure if it is because they are taking seriously a UK sponsored UN Resolution on the Olympic Truce, or are simply mystified as to how such a ‘small matter’ could lead a British parliamentarian on such a long journey. One of the attributes that senior civil servants have is the ability to arrive at instant judgements on people and then hold authoritatively to those first impressions, even when they are wrong. In the time it took to climb the stairs to the UK Mission, she gave me one of those earnest smiles which in diplomatic speak are code for ‘barking mad – get rid of him’. As I wandered down the corridor I couldn’t help but be reminded of the exchange in the ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ when Wally is in the pub with Foggy and Compo as he reflects on life with his domineering wife, Norah Batty: “She’s hard but she’s fair. [Pause] No she’s not fair, but she’s good to have around when there is trouble.” There is lots of ‘trouble’ around at NATO and in the EU and we are very fortunate to have the permanent representative we have.

At NATO Kiersten Sparke, the Media and Communications Officer for the Joint UK Delegation to NATO (pictured) organised a fantastic round of meetings with political and military officers during which we brainstormed on ideas for implementing the truce. Some may suggest that the military would be hard to convince of the ideal of the truce, but on the contrary they know all too well the consequences of war and welcome any initiative which may make that less likely. I had a particularly productive session with Chris Riley, who is in charge of the Media Operations for NATO in Afghanistan. As I frantically scribbled down the names and suggestions, I realised that a structural weakness of my campaign was that I was running it largely on my own and that with this type of intelligence on what to ask and who to speak to, the impact of the truce would be enormous. Well at least I won’t struggle for follow-up actions when I arrive back in the UK.

From NATO, it was back to the Residence where HMA Jonathan Brenton had invited a fascinating cross-section of academics, politicians, NGOs, and media for lunch on the truce. Again the interest in the concept of the truce was very strong and conversations primarily revolved around how to raise awareness of the truce. There was agreement that the Olympics and Paralympics were the only events around which a truce could be built because over 205 countries have been invited to send teams. The FIFA World Cup is often comprised of only forty finalists. The question remains how the truce can be more effectively promoted in partnership with the UN and IOC. Therein lies a long but very interesting conversation – to be continued.