You may think this is silly, but even though I don't know Jerzy Buzek personally I grew very fond of him these last few months. You know how sometimes people say they feel like they grew up with a newscaster, a TV presenter or a cartoon character because they would watch him everyday during their childhood? Well, that's a little how I feel. I started my first traineeship in the European Parliament in February 2011, a little less than a year ago and since then I've seen Buzek at the plenary, in videos, and on the news. I've also written numerous articles where I mention him and I've even had the chance to meet him 3 times in person, all of which I am sure he doesn't remember, but that's ok.

Jerzy Buzek at the start of his speech © European Union 2011 PE-EP/Pietro Naj-Oleari

The first time I met him, it was outside the Parliament in Strasbourg during the plenary in May. I waited for what seemed like hours to take a picture with him. A group of tourists, probably visitors in the Parliament, kept on talking to him and shaking his hand. His assistant, I can only presume, told him he was late for a meeting and should start moving. He walked towards me and I seized the opportunity to ask if I could take a picture with him. I really don't know why but my heart was racing and I tried my best to keep my eyes open and have a nice smile. It would have been a shame to screw up a photo opportunity with Buzek. Once it was over, I couldn't believe my chance. The other trainees would be so jealous when they saw my profile picture on Facebook… and indeed they were.

The second time I saw him, it was at a reception organised by trainees and his office in June. The reception was organised on the 12th floor of the PHS building, in the Presidential Salon. This time, it was a different story. There were 150 trainees in a small room excited to meet him. And they all had the same goal: to take a picture with him. It seemed as if Lady Gaga was in the room about to give a concert, but without the yelling and screaming, the trainees TRIED to look civilised but failed. I have a very special group photo to remember this day. Unfortunately, I am the only one who can know I was there as you can only see the top of my head. He gave a long speech about how as young people, we are the future of Europe, but what I remember the most is when he said “I hope that you are enjoying your time here in the Parliament, and in Place Lux!". Oh, so it is not a secret that trainees spend all their Thursday nights/ early Friday mornings at Place Lux? We should do a better job of hiding it next time…

The third time I met Buzek, it was actually kind of embarrassing and some of members of the Webcomm team know what I'm talking about. Two fans from the European Parliament's Facebook page had won a trip to come visit the Parliament's premises at Strasbourg and meet Jerzy Buzek. This was a big deal for the two winners to meet the President of the European Parliament. I hope I didn't ruin their moment nor the video that was recording. The incident is the following: I was standing close to them when they were introduced to the President when suddenly he turned to me and he asked me where I was from, thinking I was also a winner. He caught me by surprise and threw me off my guard. Quick, I have to think, what do I say? I finally mumbled something about being a trainee at the European Parliament. You know when you were a student and you weren't paying attention and suddenly the teacher asks you for an answer, that's exactly how I felt. He smiled, turned around, and I sighed in relief.

Buzek's popularity is off the charts

Don't get me wrong, I am sure that Martin Schulz will be a great president as well. But it just won't be the same… Buzek is Buzek. Why is he so popular? Well, first of all when you take a look at him he just seems like a nice, simple, accessible person. If you ask the EP trainees to describe Buzek, they will ALL say the exact same thing: "He reminds me of my grandpa". I would also like to add that he embodies the "cool attitude".

To confirm that I am not the only "groupie" out there, let's look at some figures.
According to Xinhua, a Chinese news website, "the 72-year-old Polish engineer-turned-politician has at least one mission well accomplished: maintaining his personal popularity, as always and also via trendy channels". "The secret to his accomplishment" resides in the fact that he was the first Parliament president to hold a live chat with Facebook users. I guess now is also the time to say "kudos" to the Webcomm team who make these chats happen. Thanks to them, Buzek is more popular than before.

Chat with EP president Jerzy Buzek © European Union 2011 PE-EP/Pietro Naj-Oleari

Buzek is also popular in the political circles. Xinhua indicates that he was named "MEP of the Year 2006" in the research and technology category and crowned as "Best Polish MEP" in 2008 by Polish media. " Prior to the MEP errands, Buzek had also been a popular and respected Prime Minister back at home, who had initiated Poland's accession negotiation with the European in 1997 and guided Poland into the NATO structures in 1999 ".

Today definitely marks the end of an era.

After so many years working in the EP (nearly 6), an outsider photographer could think that you get tired or short of ideas because you have been taking photos of everything.. but he/she shall be wrong!

One of the reasons why I love my job is because in the EP house, as everywhere, you can always find some beauty, something new that will surprise you and a great shot can be taken and an opportunity for others given to admire those moments in photos.

You just need to keep looking around yourself and you will discover that things are happening all around you in every moment!

The other day I was walking in the corridor on the way to a meeting when suddenly I saw two persons dressed in a traditional funny way. I followed them just with my eyes and so I saw that they were entering in the elevator and that many more of funny costume where filling it up.. so I took my camera in the hands and ran after them. I got this photo while the doors were already sliding to shut down.

What is your opinion? Do you like it? I leave space for you to judge it!

Pietro

The European market for online gambling has increased enormously over the past decade and today 10 % of all gambling takes place over the internet, via mobile phones or interactive platforms. There are almost 15.000 gambling websites in Europe and the annual market volume is in excess of 10 billion euro.

I have never tried online gambling myself, but I play real "physical poker" with four friends once a month. We only play for symbolic amounts and I have never lost more than 15 euro in an evening – but the thing with poker is, that you simply have to play for something, otherwise it's boring and the bluffing part doesn't give you the adrenalin kick that you need. 

The internet makes it possible for people to gamble wherever and whenever they want: in their homes or offices or via their smart phones. For me gambling is first and foremost an excuse to have an entertaining evening with friends, and I think the whole social aspect gets lost with online gambling.

Studies show that the growth of internet gambling sites has increased the number of "gambling consumers" considerably. Expert's fear that an increasing number of people risk ending up as so called "problem gamblers". Problem gambling or compulsive gambling characterises gamblers who can't stop gambling, even when it affects their personal lives and economy negatively.

The increasing opportunities for online gambling do not necessarily result in more "problem gamblers"

However, the increasing opportunities for online gambling do not necessarily result in more "problem gamblers", if we are to believe a recent report by the European Commission. It concludes that online gambling "do not appear to have given rise to problem development or addiction at a higher rate than in the offline environment" and that online gambling even provides "good opportunities for close monitoring of individual gambling behaviour and early detection of problem development".

So maybe we basically just need to convince the traditional gamblers at casinos to make their bets online instead, since this way the gaming authorities in the member states will have an easier job identifying "problem gamblers". But how exactly will gaming authorities be able to spot "problem gamblers" and vulnerable consumers in such a huge and diverse market with thousands of gambling websites?

What the MEPs propose…

The members of the European Parliament adopted earlier this month a resolution, which recommends legalizing online gambling throughout the EU, while avoiding state monopolies.

Why? Do we need more gamblers than we already have? Well, at least not more "problem gamblers" or "illegal gambling operators" if you ask the members of the European Parliament's Committee for Internal Market and Consumer Protection.

According to the MEPs, the main problem is not the gambling itself, but the consequences associated with an unregulated market for online gambling.  Today EU Member States are free to choose their own rules for online gambling, which has created a very fragmented market. While some countries have restricted online access to various games, others have legalised nearly any kind of bookmaking activity.

The rising illegal market for online gambling has been fuelled by the legal uncertainty surrounding the market. MEPs want to create a common European approach to online gambling in order to create a more stable market, fight illegal gambling and protect vulnerable consumers. 

The idea is to encourage member states to introduce licensing models which makes it possible for gambling providers meeting the conditions imposed by the host member state to apply for a licence. This way the market will become more transparent and it will be easier for consumers to distinguish between licensed and black listed operators.    

In order to protect vulnerable consumers The European Commission should develop "common standards" and take "joint action" against online gambling operators which operate without the required national licence. The MEPs also want to make it possible to block transactions between credit card issuers and blacklisted gambling providers. What the MEPs basically hope for is common European standards and a more integrated market.

Resistance to a common framework has mainly come from countries with the most liberal gambling laws, such as the UK and Malta. Other countries with stricter rules have in general argued for greater control across the EU.

It remains to be seen whether legalizing online gambling throughout the EU and creating a more integrated – and regulated – market will result in "less problem gamblers", "fewer illegal gambling operators" and "better protection of vulnerable consumers".

A powerful experience. It was a privilege to be there. This was the real thing, not only because of the beautiful, accomplished, original, passionate music which came out of the performance, but also what because what had gone into it: years of training, hard work, discipline, immense skill, and, most of all, a joyous creativity expressed through the music, in the obvious bond between the members of the trio and in the stunned admiration of their modest audience.

To witness such creativity is surely also to stop and wonder about oneself and one’s own world, about the place of artistic creation in a life spent in offices

To anyone who believes in creativity, in the liberating mission of art, the experience was also bitter-sweet. In the first place, for all their talent, for all their hard work, for all the outstanding beauty of their music, who knows whether the trio will ever gain the recognition it deserves, whether these individuals will be able to spread their life-enhancing joy beyond obscure front rooms in Brussels? But also, more personally, to witness such creativity is surely also to stop and wonder about oneself and one’s own world, about the place of artistic creation in a life spent in offices, working for institutions, which, however important and genuinely ideal-founded, live a daily routine of office politics, meetings, hierarchies, procedures and rules. Some instinct says that such a world is antithetical to artistic expression and should only offer a bleak desert of bureaucratic conformity. Such indeed is the common perception of this EU world held by many on the outside.

By Mr Fish, found in Harper's Magazine http://www.harpers.org/subjects/MrFish

But it ain’t necessarily so. Though the pangs of longing for “pure” artistic creativity provoked in this eurocrat’s heart by the musicians are unlikely to be assuaged by daily life in the European Parliament, this is an environment including genuine creative talent, and the potential to give a dimension to working life beyond the routines and procedures.

Of course, creative people are everywhere – a colleague who has just completed his second novel, another whose jazz “saves his sanity”, a third whose paintings you unexpectedly see at exhibitions, and even – that rarest of birds – someone who leaves the job to test her considerable singing talent in the big wide world.

But that, thankfully, is human nature – what about creativity on the job? Can creativity survive professionally, thrive even, in this euro-institutional environment?

A moment perhaps to define terms: what do I mean by creativity? The word “creative” is one of those words beloved of modern management theorists. It is known to be a Good Thing, and is therefore appropriated willy-nilly to cover all sorts of ability, such as the ability to find an inventive solution to a problem, to think laterally, to introduce useful changes . These are all admirable qualities, but my interest is really in an older, more classical notion of creativity: the capacity to produce something new, unexpected and original, something vested with emotional power, some artistic product whose qualities exceed pure function.

It is these people who contribute disproportionately, though often invisibly and with comparatively little credit, to the best things to come out of DG Communication

If such creativity counts for anything in a large institution such as the Parliament, it is inevitably in the field of communication, where the key to success is so often to engage with people emotionally, to surprise and challenge them. Isn’t that what art does? And sure enough, one of the greatest pleasures of working in DG Communication over the last nearly four years has been the discovery of colleagues whose deepest motivation and greatest abilities lie not in the conventional ambit of the fonctionnaire, but in the field of “art”, broadly defined. In many ways, they resemble alpine flowers in a hostile environment, with so much of the surroundings set against them: the rows of identical, isolating offices, the institutional-grey decor, the culture of meetings and consensus, the myriad rules and limitations, the restricted range of tools at their disposal and unconducive employment practices… And yet, it is these same people who contribute disproportionately, though often invisibly and with comparatively little credit, to the best things to come out of DG Communication. But they do more; they can infect those they work with, help develop a local sub-culture of creativity, help others realise their own potential, a potential often left un-nurtured and un-encouraged by the broader collective culture.

Any conclusion from all of this, other than to let people know that this is not the bureaucratic desert evoked earlier?

Not really. Just to say thanks to all the creative people around me. You know who you are. Long may you prosper. Or at least survive.

Budgets as turn-offs are by no means unique to the EU, national budgets suffer similarly. In the UK, where I come from, the press and commentariat traditionally dealt with this by making the annual national budget almost exclusively a story about the rise in the price of a packet of cigarettes, a pint of beer or a gallon of petrol, sometimes giving the impression that non-smoking teetotal cyclists were somehow unaffected by the national finances. There was also great scope for class-related distinctions. I recall earnest commentators pointing out that differentiations between the tax treatment of wine and spirits, as opposed to ciggies and beer, allowed governments of different stripes to target the middle or working classes, according to taste. Oh, glorious England! Times have changed, even budget procedures have changed, and now the UK budget coverage is all about the degree of savageness of the cuts, and who will suffer most (don’t worry, class consciousness has not died in the meantime – just listen to the coverage of child allowances).

Sadly, the EU does not levy taxes directly on booze and fags

Sadly (for communications purposes) the EU does not levy taxes directly on booze and fags, so we have our work cut out at the best of times. This year the problem is particularly acute. This is because this year’s budget is politically extremely important; it is not only controversial, with Parliament stuck between a rock (austerity and cuts across Europe) and a hard place (all the new things the EU has to do – and pay for – thanks to the Lisbon Treaty), but also significant in being the first “Lisbon” budget, with Parliament now empowered with a say over all expenditure, including agricultural spending.

Upshot, we are expected to do a big job on the budget this year. Rightly so, but I won’t pretend the prospect was met with unalloyed enthusiasm when announced to the editors. So it’s what people like to call a “challenge”.

There are many aspects to this, of course, but one thing we realise is that we have to be better at fancy graphics. One thing we are saying in our review of Parliament’s general web presence is that we need to be able to do more of the kind of thing leading online news organisations do all the time, those cool interactive graphics which can do a huge amount to explain this kind of thing. As an organisation of the word, a parliament, we are not set up to do this well at the moment, and you might even argue that we are not culturally predisposed to favour the image over the text. But we really have to expand our capacity in this area.

EU Budget: steam punk version

But what might we produce? We have already worked on a visual explanation of the annual budget procedure (picture). This helps explain our predicament. This is a radically simplified version of the actual process, and we have had to fend off hundreds (well, dozens) of objections from our colleagues specialising in budgetary affairs that it omits too many significant details and nuances. Yikes! Non-specialists who see it tend to laugh at its steam-punk complexity. Hmmm. Ultimately we’d like this to be clickable, with, say, each step revealing details of votes and figures, links to profiles of the key players, background information, etc. But we say that quietly, as the two guys who do this (and just about every other graphic element you find on our website) are still recovering from producing a version of this in 22 languages. (You try fitting the Greek versions of budgetary terms into those bubbles sometime, they politely suggest.)

We thought they didn’t make a bad job of it. So congrats comrades!

We spotted something from the Commission yesterday, which showed they are also on the case. It’s a explanation of the EU budget in two minutes. Frankly, notwithstanding the smart-aleck remarks of some team members, as to how, for example, she manages to take a hot pie out of the oven with her bare hands and as to the possible significance of her eating the administrative expenditure slice rather than any other, and after overcoming your curiosity as to what she keeps randomly smiling about as she peruses the EU budget, we thought they didn’t make a bad job of it. So congrats comrades!

Except for one thing – and this is me in my ex-linguist, pedantic, language-of-Shakepeare mode that my dear colleagues roll their eyes over – namely, how on earth did the offensively euro-speak phrase, utterly wrong in real English, “the whole European budget is controlled by the Court of Auditors” not get corrected in the editing process? The voice-over guy, a native speaker surely, is presumably labouring under the misapprehension that the auditors decide how the whole budget is spent.

Sorry, that’s my parochial gripe for the day, but otherwise we did think it was a jolly decent shot at the notoriously off-putting budget theme. Yes, we are slightly envious. So here it is (both uploaded and embedded, as I had some difficulty with both – if both fail, click here):

Commission Budget video

I don’t think people will join in a total virtual game which requires a real commitment.

The new game launched by the Schuman foundation allows you to choose your nationality, your political group and the parliamentary committee you’d like to belong to. You’re then an MEP and it’s up to you to organize yourself, to network, to take initiatives… Different forums make it possible to debate with the member of your political group or your committee. You can submit draft resolutions, ask questions to the Commission, submit complaints to the European Ombudsman… From time to time, you’re asked to vote on a resolution.

I would have like to enter this kind of world while taking part in an online game on politics!

This morning, I was for example asked to vote on an EU-Ukraine agreement. I checked what my political family said to this, what was also said in the committee… And I cast my vote. We’ll see what will happen.

The principle of the game is really good and very similar to reality. In fact, it leaves a lot of place for initiatives for the “virtual MEPs”. You’re really at the centre of the process. Unfortunately, you also need a lot of time to join in and really enjoy the game. As an actor, you can’t just wait for the others to move forward.

Hence my question: has this game been designed for “normal citizens” or is it for EU geeks? The concept of helping people understand the EU through online games is a very good one (there will even be an award to the best player: a week-end in the European city of his/her choice). Nevertheless, I don’t think people will have the time and the will to join in a total virtual game which requires a real commitment! The target group of such a game is probably limited to Euro enthusiastic people. And if you have the time and will to be political active, you will probably prefer to do it in real life…

However, I can recommend you to log in, join the game and make your own opinion. It is a good idea, honestly. It had only needed to be a bit more graphical, a bit more sexy. For the next legislature perhaps?

Down - but certainly not out

How can one communicate what poverty is like? That may sound like a trite question for those who experience it first hand. Perhaps we could emulate George Orwell and take to the kitchens, streets and mines in Paris and London and Wigan and experience grinding poverty first hand. I imagine it would be quite a shock to anyone born after the creation of the welfare state, health service and safety at work regulations.

I raise this point as we are now almost half way through the “European year for combating poverty and social exclusion” and I chanced upon some video diaries made during a conference on “Poverty between reality and perceptions” in October last year in Brussels.

In it a series of policy makers and journalists talk about ways of raising the awareness of poverty in Europe and also how it manifests itself in other “stories”. I was quite struck by the comments of BBC Northern Ireland correspondent William Crawley who pointed out that often what can lies behind racism, violence, school drop outs, unemployment and family break-up is poverty. He urged people to look a bit closer at the origins of many of our problems and suggested that perhaps we may find poverty as a cause.

There are believed to be around 85 million people living in poverty in the European Union – a staggering amount given the resources Europe has on offer. This figure has grown due to the economic crisis. Add to this the millions “at risk of poverty” (those who earn less than 60% of the average of other people in society) and the fear of unemployment and it makes for a bleak state of affairs. In an article in February we tackled a few of the ways of defining what poverty really is.

I think this should also prompt us to delve a bit closer into the background of issues and stories that we publish on the site. Perhaps sometimes we are not doing something – or more importantly the people affected by it – justice.

Last week a group of people experiencing poverty met at the European Parliament for the 9th time. Many Euro MPs from across the House have taken up the fight against poverty and exclusion and are looking for ways to create jobs and increase incomes. A recent report in the Employment and Social Affairs Committee on the prospect of a minimum wage generated a lot of debate on how best to help people – more social protection (in a time of huge public debt) or more work schemes and incentives. Or a mixture of both in fact. Unsurprisingly, the preference in Parliament reflects  left-right political orientation.

In addition to these MEPs earlier this year backed a report that seeks to help the disabled by making disability a legal one and a question of human rights. This step, though it may sound legalistic, is intended to make it easier for Europe’s 50 million disabled to access health care, the job market and other essential services.

Let’s hope that the crisis steadily becomes alleviated and the initiatives taken lead to a steady improvement in the position of so many of our fellow citizens over the coming months and years.

I’m honoured to work at this project, and I want to invest myself to make it bigger, nicer, and more powerful. It is a lab of experimentation and creativity, as it tests the potential (and pushes the limits) of institutional communication. Nowhere else, as far as I know, there is a community from so many different countries discussing political issues among them.  I was literally touched by the post on Thailand, when we talked about the riots in Bangkok. Some Thai people commented on it and many, many Europeans expressed them their solidarity and their sorrow, but also discussed the political situation there.

With over 76.000 fans, each post seen at least 100.000 times, and over 1.000 interactions per week, I think we shouldn’t be shy and say that this is one of the most successful experiences of communication on EU affairs ever.

Football time: the genius of Fred "en jouant avec son 'toshop"

Positive feed-back

In fact, we don’t need to auto celebrate ourselves, because we have a lot of positive feed-back, from inside and outside the House.

The other EU Institutions consider us frontrunners, and want to exchange experiences. The last example: a communication officer from EuropeAid at the Commission said he is “a big fan of the Facebook editorial team of the Parliament” and he would like to share with us some best practices.

After the chat with Heidi Hautala on human rights on Facebook, her assistant wrote to me that the results were “very impressive” and that the MEP “was very happy to participate and would do it again for sure :)”, encouraging us to “continue the excellent work!”.

FB fans appreciate our work, and they expressed it many times. Just over the last week, Marcello Toni thanked us for organising the chats, Tremopoulos Michalis encouraged us to “keep up the good work!!”and Mark Valdam said he likes “funny organisations like the EP :-))”.
…and some secrets to reveal
So far so good. Of course we can do much better, and I’ll write another post on what we can and should do in the future. For the time being, just two little confessions.
1) It is a serious thing – When “the pillar” left, I didn’t sleep for one week. I was given more or less informally the responsibility of coordinating the magic Facebook team, and this gave me a good dose of stress. The page took off and grew thanks – among others – to the creativity, restless effort and “geekiness” of Christian. I don’t know if I can keep up, but I will do all my best because I believe that this communication platform has a great potential to get Europe a little bit closer to citizens, but also to get citizens closer to European decision makers, and maybe most important, to get Europeans closer to each other.
2) But you don’t have to take yourself (and the others) too seriously. Do you know how the best posts that we publish see the light? Normally we exchange tonnes of emails, and at some point somebody comes up with a funny, sometimes hilarious email, that the others – crazily enough – take seriously. And then it goes on Facebook and gets a lot of comments and “likes”: the magic of Facebook!

For me, the important thing is to keep this spirit alive and…enjoy your work!

Why?

I got super-stressed when I arrived at the European Parliament’s building in Strasbourg.
“No info desks,” I was told by the buildings service, “however, the security service at the entrances can provide information. Plans of the buildings can be consulted at main points and in front of the lifts.”

But …… If you think that you will arrive there and the security men will tell you the correct updated office number of your boss, then you are as naive as I was. They sent me to the 14th floor, where he had been more than three years previously. No DG Communication anywhere near… A Polish administration lady went with me to investigate the right office. We even grabbed a passing fire-fighter to help us to find it.

After asking, labyrinthine-ing among 2.600 offices and 57 meeting rooms, including the Hemicycle, while hoping I would not have to take all 34 staircases and sweating because I was already late, we finally arrived. After three quarters of an hour. Polish lady, fire-fighter and ME {laugh}.

Letters, numbers and colours … Coffee, please!

There are 4 buildings and 6 places to get some snacks in European Parliament area:

1, Louise Weiss (LOW) named after a lady Weiss born to a Bourgeoisie, Alsatian family. The centre of her interest was Europe, and so she came to find herself in Strasbourg towards the end of her life. She was then the oldest Member of Parliament to be elected by direct universal suffrage. She remained MEP and oldest member until her death in 1983 at the age of 90.

LOW is famous for its Flower Bar with a very funky carpet and a lot of yummy things to choose from. It is always very full, though. :{

Second one is Visitor’s bar at LOW 00 – under the Hemicycle
Thirdly, Members’ bar at LOW 01 -next to the Hemicycle zone Nord
And the fourth one – Press bar at LOW 00 zone Nord – approximately opposite of the Members’ bar, one floor beneath.

1946: “There is a remedy which … would in a few years make all Europe … free and … happy. It is to re-create the European family, or as much of it as we can, and to provide it with a structure under which it can dwell in peace, in safety and in freedom. We must build a kind of United States of Europe.”

2, Winston Churchill (WIC), a former army officer, war reporter and British Prime Minister (1940-45 and 1951-55), was one of the first to call for the creation of a ‘United States of Europe’. Sir Winston Churchill also made a name for himself as a painter and writer; in 1953 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

I think Mr. Churchill would be very happy If he would have known that we have on -1 floor Cygnes/Swan Bar. It is very nice one with view to the river and a lot of trees. Bonus!  It is very close to the one of 28 restrooms in the complex.

3, Salvador de Madariaga (SDM) is the founder of the College of Europe. Passionate defender of liberty and tolerance, he wanted to construct a free and democratic Europe of continental scale. He was also a writer, poet, historian, philosopher and politician. After working for the League of Nations, he pursued a university career at Oxford, where published a number of works, including the famous “Englishmen, Frenchmen and Spaniards”, an essay on the observation and comparative psychology of people.

Unfortunately, no bar in SDM.

4, Pierre Pflimlin (PFL) Pierre Eugène Jean Pflimlin was a French Christian democratic politician who served as the penultimate Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic for a few weeks in 1958, before being replaced by Charles de Gaulle during the crisis of that year. Pflimlin served as mayor of Strasbourg from 1959 to 1 983. He also was the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 1963 to 1966 and President of the European Parliament from 1984 to 1987.

And finally our building: It has an Accueil Bar on the -1 floor. Wonderful place to meet all communication people.

My PFL F000445A.  My castle.

First 3 letters is the abbreviation of the building’s name PFL= Pierre Pflimlin. The first 2 numbers are the floor number and then the rest is the office number.

LOW building, the biggest of the 4 Strasbourg buildings, is divided into 6 zones: N=Nord, S=Sud, T=Tower, H=Hemicycle, C=Canal, R=Rivière. The other 3 buildings have not been divided into zones. However you can still follow different colours connected to different zones in the WIC.

You can get to our office in PFL by two ways – the official way and my way

The official way: “The common floor to all 4 buildings in Strasbourg is floor 01. You access the PFL building through the WIC building, than you take the lift or staircase down to floor 00. The working post F00044a (and not F000445a) is situated inside the open plan space F00040. There are 2 such spaces in the PFL, the F00030 and the F00040, each one contains approximately 30 working posts, ” explains  Buildings service.

My version would be: Get off the bus. Behind the corner, there is a big entrance to PFL building. Pass the security. First stairs on your left to first floor. And do you see second door on your left? You scored….

Strasbourg a peaceful city

The capital city of the Alsace region situated in north-eastern France where some of us spend every 4th week or the others have the only possibility to see while on traineeship.

What interests me is the density of the city. It is around half of Brussels one {according to an online encyclopaedia statistics Brussels has 6,6 inhb/m² while Strasbourg only 3,5 inhb/m²}.

Getting around

You can easily get around by bus, tram or on foot. The best way to get to EP is tram or bus number…  It has actually no number. It is a special service for the European Institutions and it is called the Navette. The actual bus stop is on your right side behind the flags when you are standing the way that the train station is behind you.