There is a considerable majority of MEPs and staff who support the idea of a single site for the European Parliament. Doing away with the monthly trek between Brussels and Strasbourg would be eminently sensible at various levels, not least economic and environmental. There has always been the assumption that the single site for the parliament would be Brussels, after all that is where the majority of the other institutions are already. However, whilst Brussels, against most measures. is a pleasant place to live, the thing that drags it down is the low-level street crime which can make living there unpleasant.
News reached me that a Brussels based journalist who I had been speaking to just earlier in the afternoon had pepper spray squirted in her face and her bag snatched in a park near to the European Parliament building. Once people started to talk about this incident then others come forward with similar stories about walking through the poorly lit Parc Leopold which it seems has been the scene of many similar crimes.
But not just there because we also learnt that one Lib Dem MEP had his briefcase stolen while he was waiting for a train and another MEP had her suitcase snatched from the luggage racks at the end of the carriage as the train was stopped at a station
between Brussels and Antwerp.
I’ve had my wallet lifted in Brussels (the only city this has ever happened to me). One of my colleagues had a bag snatched from her car as she waited at traffic lights. The passenger door was locked and the thief smashed the window. This in broad daylight and is not an unusual occurrence as theft from vehicles, both moving and parked in Brussels, is common. And so it goes on.
As I say Brussels is otherwise a pretty decent place to live but this low-level crime is actually rather off-putting. I am not sure what the answer is, after all Belgian police are fairly efficient and CCTV is in place after all cameras were used to convict a Polish guy who had stabbed a teenager to death in Brussels Central station when he refused to hand over his MP3 player. However, unless there is a real attempt to reduce this low-level crime I think people will start to think that the single site for the European Parliament will would be better placed in Strasbourg.
September 17, 2009 at 6:54 pm |
I fully agree with what has been stated above. It happened to me in TGV train while I was travelling between Brussels and Koln. I went for toilet and my luggage from overhead rack is missining in just 60 seconds. The train just stopped in Brussels Nord station and the culprit just escaped in this 60 seconds. It is a shame that DB train controllers were just mute spectators to this. If atleast one controller would have been on the platform, this could have been prevented. I am from India, eventhough we are a large countrz 1.18 billion population, our police takes extreme care to sensitize the travellers on baglifiting on the train like bY whistling, controllers stationed at the platform etc. It is a great pity that it is matter of neglect in this european citY
September 18, 2009 at 7:07 pm |
Very sorry to hear about your experience Sundar. It is true that the train guards need to be much more diligent.