KNOWING ABOUT THIS..

  AUGUST 7: To be at the centre of things is always sort of fascinating. Also to be the geographical centre of an area.   Do you know, where the geographical centre is today of the following: EUROPEAN UNION   ( after the United Kingdom is now outside )? It is in the town of GADHEIM near Würzburg in Germany.    See photo below. THE WHOLE OF GEOGRAPHICAL EUROPE   ( from Norwegian Spitzbergen/Svalbard in the north, to the Spanish Canary islands to the south, from Russian Ural in the east to Portuguese Azores Islands in the west ): The geographical centre is in the village of PURMUSKES in Lithuania. This is about 26 km north of the capital Vilnius. See photo. BELGIUM: The country’s geographical centre is in the village of NIL-SAINT-VINCENT south east of Brussels.   It is only 20 km from our home town Rixensart.   We still have to visit it 😊 See photo. DENMARK: This is in RØRVIG on the island of Sjælland / Zealand. In this case i...

AUGUST 3: Information and knowledge are the worst enemies of fear and hate .   If you do not know, you tend to fear. And you often hate, what you do not know. At the same time you are more at risk being manipulated by people, who want you to see things their way.   Or you may say it in another way:   if you do not know the facts you often see things only as black or white.   Just like a person who is totally colour blind. This has been my fundamental conviction all my life – and certainly during my 50 years in communicating about Europe and EU.   Make sure that you present credible information – and that you make it understandable.   Make people feel ownership to it themselves. And if you manage to present the information in a relaxed and perhaps humoristic way it also helps 😊 If people are un-informed society is in deep trouble. Just have a look at today’s USA ☹ Information is about EXPLAINING.   Not about DEFENDING. This is the job of the...

JULY 31: We all want to protect the lovely nature we are surrounded by.   This also includes many of the important traces from past generations.   In Denmark you find all the old burial mounds in the landscape. Most of them were built in the Bronze Age ( 1700-500 BC).   In the beginning they were graves for the rich people. Later many more were buried there – from 1000 BC in urns. Altogether 86.000 of them have been identified in the country. Today 22.000 still exist and can be seen in most of the country in the landscape. They are all several meters high.   They are all protected. Only the National Museum may give permission to escavate them. Such permissions are almost never given. Now, a local municipality, Odsherred Kommune, is running a special project – supported by funds from the EU.   It invites citizens to adopt a burial mound. By doing so you commit yourself to look after it, cut the grass on it twice a year and ensure that no waste etc. is left on...

JULY 22: While the dust is settles and some people are resting it is time to look in more details on the huge European agreements yesterday. I will do that very soon on a number of topics such as how the huge recovery package will be distributed, what the main contents of the new 7 year EU budget 2021-27 are, and how the decisions on respect of the rule of law will play an important role in money transfers in the EU from now on. The European Parliament will, of course, also have its say. It will meet tomorrow, July 23, to start its scrutiny of the decisions. After that it will be time to look at the details. When the question of the future link between the respect for EU’s values and decisions and the hand-out of EU funds is concerned the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, said the following during his briefing of the media after the meeting:   Rule of law is a decisive criteria for budget spending!    It can hardly be said more clearly. ...

JULY 21: We did it!   These were the words of the president of the European Council, Charles Michel,   this morning.   The 27 EU member states had in unanimity approved a huge Recovery Plan for Europe, especially with assistance to the member states, which are hardest hit by the corona crisis.   And a new 7 year budget 2021-27 was also agreed. For me the two most important points with this agreement are: 1.       EU has now in very concrete terms shown solidarity with members in difficulty. This is of huge importance for the well-functioning of EU in these very difficult times – internally and externally.   They have proved that they can work in unanimity when it is really needed.   This will have great importance in many other areas too. 2.       At the same time it was for the first time agreed and written into the agreement that member states have to respect the fundamental values of the...

JULY 16: Holidays are good for many things. Also for reading.   Outside when the sun is shining. Inside when it is raining.   So, no excuse.   Just get going…. My holiday reading this year is concentrated on several books.   Some of them e-books on my Kindle, others as real “old-fashioned” books.   Both have their great advantages. Though I some time ago decided that I no longer wanted to waste my time on reading about and hearing about Trump and all his “trumpists” I have decided to read the new book by his former national security advisor JOHN BOLTON. It is called:   The Room Where it Happened.   And the book fulfils my expectations. On one hand Bolton is – unlike Trump – very knowledgeable and hard working.   But on the other hand he is as much a political bandit as his former boss.   Ego-centric and with a strong wish to break down and spoil most of the international rules and constructions, which have been created since th...

JULY 9: Bismarck deserves to be discussed over two days, I believe. He was – like Churchill – eminent at producing one-liners, which were remembered many years afterwards.   Here are a few of them: Laws are like sausages. It is better not to know how they are made! It is more important to make history than to write about it. When history passes through your room you’d better do what you can to pinch its coattails. There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States of America. If you want to cheat the world, tell the truth. Never believe anything in politics, before it has been officially denied. Interesting to reflect upon these Bismarck sentences. I mentioned yesterday that a 7 meter high statue of Bismarck was erected in the then German South Jutland in 1901. And that this statue can now be seen a bit hidden in the Hüttener Nationalpark north of Rendsburg.   I can today show you a picture of this st...