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Post by John Chanin on May 3, 2018 6:45:52 GMT
Prague and Vilnius both have wildly varying claims to being the closest capitals to the geographical centre of Europe. Naturally neither was an option in the 1950s, and the latter would be politically very contentious even now. Not all official languages of the EU are Germanic or Romance anymore either, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a city where Greek, Maltese, Hungarian, Swedish, Irish Gaelic and Latvian are all spoken to a high standard by a significant chunk of the populace! Swedish is Germanic |
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Post by therealriga on May 3, 2018 7:16:08 GMT
and you'd be hard-pressed to find a city where Greek, Maltese, Hungarian, Swedish, Irish Gaelic and Latvian are all spoken to a high standard by a significant chunk of the populace! Really? Not hard at all... Greek - Athens / Nicosia Maltese - Valletta Hungarian - Budapest Swedish - Stockholm / Helsinki Irish - Dublin, though arguably you'd be more likely to hear Polish, Latvian or Lithuanian spoken there. Latvian - Riga In 3 of those cities 2 EU languages have official status. While English is widely understood in at least half. Don't get your point? |
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The Bishop
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Post by The Bishop on May 3, 2018 10:56:54 GMT
I think you missed the "all".
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Foggy
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Post by Foggy on May 3, 2018 23:03:31 GMT
Prague and Vilnius both have wildly varying claims to being the closest capitals to the geographical centre of Europe. Naturally neither was an option in the 1950s, and the latter would be politically very contentious even now. Not all official languages of the EU are Germanic or Romance anymore either, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a city where Greek, Maltese, Hungarian, Swedish, Irish Gaelic and Latvian are all spoken to a high standard by a significant chunk of the populace! Swedish is Germanic I didn't say it wasn't, although it's fair enough if you thought that was implied. |
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Post by therealriga on May 4, 2018 7:33:35 GMT
I think you missed the "all". I didn't and I still don't get the point? There isn't a city anywhere in Europe, probably anywhere in the world, where 6 languages are spoken by significant percentages. So? |
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Post by Foggy on May 4, 2018 23:07:41 GMT
I think you missed the "all". I didn't and I still don't get the point? There isn't a city anywhere in Europe, probably anywhere in the world, where 6 languages are spoken by significant percentages. So? Because someone pointed out that Brussels was chosen as the headquarters of most EEC institutions back in the day for linguistic reasons. This sparked a discussion about a possible more suitable location. If you were to look for a capital nowadays that's geographically and linguistically satisfactory to the EU27, it'd be a lot more difficult to find one. |
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Post by tiberius on May 4, 2018 23:09:46 GMT
I didn't and I still don't get the point? There isn't a city anywhere in Europe, probably anywhere in the world, where 6 languages are spoken by significant percentages. So? Because someone pointed out that Brussels was chosen as the headquarters of most EEC institutions back in the day for linguistic reasons. This sparked a discussion about a possible more suitable location. If you were to look for a capital nowadays that's geographically and linguistically satisfactory to the EU27, it'd be a lot more difficult to find one. Bern? |
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Post by Foggy on May 4, 2018 23:12:07 GMT
Because someone pointed out that Brussels was chosen as the headquarters of most EEC institutions back in the day for linguistic reasons. This sparked a discussion about a possible more suitable location. If you were to look for a capital nowadays that's geographically and linguistically satisfactory to the EU27, it'd be a lot more difficult to find one. Bern? Not very central and more importantly, not currently in the EU!  |
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Post by tiberius on May 4, 2018 23:17:45 GMT
Not very central and more importantly, not currently in the EU! The population center of the EU27 is to the west of the area center of EU27. And Bern is in between EU27's three most populous countries. Since Switzerland is 1) unusually diverse linguistically and culturally, 2) well situated, and 3) is host to many other multi-national organizations, it would be a decent choice. |
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Post by Foggy on May 4, 2018 23:41:53 GMT
Not very central and more importantly, not currently in the EU! The population center of the EU27 is to the west of the area center of EU27. And Bern is in between EU27's three most populous countries. Since Switzerland is 1) unusually diverse linguistically and culturally, 2) well situated, and 3) is host to many other multi-national organizations, it would be a decent choice. On reflection, the fact that the city is not part an EU member state at present need not necessarily be a problem. The eastern states might not buy the 'population centre' argument, though. |
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Post by tiberius on May 4, 2018 23:52:59 GMT
The population center of the EU27 is to the west of the area center of EU27. And Bern is in between EU27's three most populous countries. Since Switzerland is 1) unusually diverse linguistically and culturally, 2) well situated, and 3) is host to many other multi-national organizations, it would be a decent choice. On reflection, the fact that the city is not part an EU member state at present need not necessarily be a problem. The eastern states might not buy the 'population centre' argument, though. Perhaps it could be a location in far eastern Switzerland, to appease them. |
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Post by Foggy on May 4, 2018 23:59:45 GMT
On reflection, the fact that the city is not part an EU member state at present need not necessarily be a problem. The eastern states might not buy the 'population centre' argument, though. Perhaps it could be a location in far eastern Switzerland, to appease them. The trouble with somewhere like Chur is that it's a bit on the small side, and that it's almost entirely German-speaking. It seems there'll always be some objection, no matter where you suggest!  |
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Post by tiberius on May 5, 2018 0:05:51 GMT
Perhaps it could be a location in far eastern Switzerland, to appease them. The trouble with somewhere like Chur is that it's a bit on the small side, and that it's almost entirely German-speaking. It seems there'll always be some objection, no matter where you suggest! If no matter what place is suggested someone will object, then I guess that ensures that the mere raising of an objection is not a deal breaker. |
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Post by Adam in Stroud on May 5, 2018 6:35:53 GMT
Because someone pointed out that Brussels was chosen as the headquarters of most EEC institutions back in the day for linguistic reasons. This sparked a discussion about a possible more suitable location. If you were to look for a capital nowadays that's geographically and linguistically satisfactory to the EU27, it'd be a lot more difficult to find one. Bern? The original comparison was with Zurich, but the quotation about the Vienna Cemetery ("half as big, twice as lively") springs to mind. |
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Post by Penddu on May 6, 2018 7:16:39 GMT
The first 'civic' capital of Wales as opposed to the various royal capitals was of course Machynlleth. Home to our first Senedd.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2018 11:27:39 GMT
Lichtenstein it is then!
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Post by Foggy on May 9, 2018 23:37:58 GMT
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Post by Eastwood on May 10, 2018 8:52:51 GMT
Not very central and more importantly, not currently in the EU! The population center of the EU27 is to the west of the area center of EU27. And Bern is in between EU27's three most populous countries. Since Switzerland is 1) unusually diverse linguistically and culturally, 2) well situated, and 3) is host to many other multi-national organizations, it would be a decent choice. If you wanted somewhere that is: - Linguistically diverse
- Further east than the current EU capital
- In a current EU member state
You could do a lot worse than Bolzano. Multi cultural, 3 languages spoken locally (German, Italian, Ladin) with English language tuition also used at the local university. Beautiful location in the mountains and good connections across the Alps to Austria and Germany, especially once the Brenner Base Tunnel opens. |
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Post by cibwr on May 15, 2018 9:48:19 GMT
The first 'civic' capital of Wales as opposed to the various royal capitals was of course Machynlleth. Home to our first Senedd. And is again in Jan Morris' A Machynlleth Triad - highly recommended. |
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