EU officials are being invited by the Brussels-Europe Liaison Office to tell stories of their arrival in the Belgian capital. Their impressions are set to be made public ahead of the Belgian EU Presidency, timetabled for the second half of 2010.
"We are looking for Bruxellois who experienced the birth and growth of Brussels' EU institutions from close-up and saw their neighbourhood evolving from residential to office-oriented," reads a statement on the office's website.
The Liaison Office survey aims to give the Brussels public a better understanding of this transitional period in the city's history, which saw thousands of people arrive from abroad to work for the European institutions and associated bodies.
Brussels' EU quarter is set for another major facelift following the unveiling last year of proposals to create a "symbolic area for the EU institutions," giving "body and soul to the European political project" and providing the European Commission with much-needed office space, in the words of Siim Kallas, a vice-president of the EU executive (EurActiv 03/06/09).
The survey organisers hope to gather the impressions that long-term foreign residents from all levels of the EU hierarchy had of the post-war upheaval, which saw entire areas of the city razed to the ground to make way for major edifices like the European Commission's Berlaymont headquarters and the European Parliament.
"We aren't looking for well-known people, but those who worked behind the scenes, from usher to director," Ans Persoons of the Brussels-Europe Liaison Office told the European Parliament's official magazine.
Respondents will be asked to share their memories of their first few years in Brussels.
"We want to know things like what their arrival in Brussels was like," Persoons said, adding: "Other questions might include: what were things like on the work floor? Why did they want to work for 'Europe'?"
The memories of EU officials will be compared in the survey with those of long-time residents of the Leopold district, which houses the main European institutions.
