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2010
38

Brussels, capital of Europe: a sustainable choice?

Press release

Notes de la rédaction

This is the press release related to the article from Philippe Van Parijs and Jonathan Van Parys, published May 17, 2010. Read the article.

A capital city acts as a meeting point for people who come from all over a territory. There are many factors which determine whether a city is a good capital. But as more emphasis is placed on ecological considerations, the more or less central location of the capital city within the territory increases in importance.

In the 38th issue of Brussels Studies, Philippe and Jonathan Van Parijs attempt to determine which European city meets this criterion best and, in particular, whether the choice of Brussels as capital of the European Union is likely to withstand the growing importance of this criterion and the continued enlargement towards the east.

The central notion of the analysis is that of the centre of gravity of the EU, which is defined according to specific criteria. Several centres of gravity are thus conceivable: the diplomatic centre of gravity, defined by the minimisation of the sum of the distances to the capitals of the member states; the demographic centre of gravity, by the minimisation of the sum of the distances to the centres of the member states, with each distance being weighted by the population of the state concerned; the metropolitan centre of gravity, by the minimisation of the sum of the distances to the big cities in the Union, with each distance being weighted by the population of the city concerned; and the civic centre of gravity, by the minimisation of the sum of the distances to the cities in the Union, with each distance being weighted by the number of international governmental and non-governmental organisations located in the city concerned. The capitals of the Union and its other main cities are ranked according to these criteria, using new databases and computation techniques.

Within the framework of the EU-27, Prague comes first from a ‘diplomatic’ point of view, Frankfurt from a ‘demographic’ point of view, Luxembourg from a ‘metropolitan’ point of view and Brussels from a ‘civic’ point of view. In a maximalist scenario of enlargement towards the east, this group is replaced by Vienna, Munich, Strasbourg and Brussels. The fourth criterion – which is the most favourable to Brussels – is also the most historically contingent and, on the surface, the most unstable.

This article ends with a discussion of the mechanisms which make it unlikely that Brussels will lose the ‘civic centrality’ imparted to it historically by chance. Such a move would also have an environmental impact.

References
Van Parijs, Philippe and Van Parys, Jonathan “Brussels, capital of Europe: a sustainable choice?”, Brussels Studies [Online], General collection, No 38, 17 May 2010. URL: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/769
Contact
Benjamin Wayens, Senior Editor: bwayens[at]brusselsstudies.be

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