Grand Place Brussels

We checked out of our hostel in Amsterdam and jumped on a direct train to Brussels, Belgium! We checked into our Airbnb around 2pm and were grateful for a bit of extra space after a couple of weeks in hostels.

We had a brief walk through the main square of Brussels, the Grand Place, before heading to the European Parliament. This is one of the three main buildings which conduct the EU parliament functions, with the other two being in Strasbourg and Luxembourg. The European Parliament representatives are elected by citizens from each nation so they act on behalf of the citizens who elected them.

The site also includes the places for the European Commission (which acts in the interests of the EU as a whole) and European Council (which acts on behalf of EU members states).

The Parliament musesum building was really well laid out and was very interactive, explaining the functionality of the EU as well as the in depth analysis of how the EU was formed over time, starting with the first six countries back in 1951 - Italy, France, Luxembourg, West Germany, Netherlands and Belgium.

We learnt about the beginning of the EU and the many agreements which led to the EU being the institution it is today. In short:
- The idea of a European union came about after WWII. In particular, Germany had huge resources in the Ruhr area for steel and coal and other countries were concerned that this industrial power should not ever be used again for war and should not be exclusively used by Germany.
- 9 May 1950 - Ultimately this led to the Schuman Declaration which related to the pooling of resources such as coal and steel in Europe. The 9 May is now still recognised as "Europe Day" and it saw the first cooperation between France and Germany and this was solidified by the Treaty of Paris the following year.
- 1957 - The Treaty of Rome was signed which related to European economic community and European atomic energy cooperation. Interestingly, the treaty had not been translated into all of the necessary languages prior to signature but there was a French election and to not risk the new French president not agreeing, the parties signed it as soon as possible with a document containing mostly blank pages. This showed the great level of trust which had evolved between the countries at this time!
- During the 1960s - There was a tug-o-war of ideas as to how the EU would continue (I.e. whether it would be a United Europe or whether it would be a Europe of Nations and how this would look going forward).
- During the 1970s - This was the start of the use of a European currency unit so they could track currency inflations in different countries. This was the forerunner of the Euro which is used today.
1992 - The Masastricht Treaty was signed which led to greater cooperation between the parties.
1995 - The Schegen Agreement was signed which meant there was free travel between European borders.

The Parliament musesum also explained a lot about how world history has impacted on the EU and also how the EU provides various types of aid not only to its members but also all around the world. It was a very informative experience with a lot of information to absorb!

Afterwards, we made our way back to the Airbnb after doing some shopping and then had a chilled movie night.Read more