New Capital City for the European Union

USA, AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, NIGERIA have successfully built new capital cities. Mostly they are countries with a federal structure, where a new capital city in a separate federal territory resolves a competitive situation between regions. Old powerful capital cities like Paris, London or Rom usually have uncontested status, except for Russia, where Czar Peter the Great in 1703 built St. Petersburg as a new Capital, which replaced Moscow for some 200 years. In some cases, for political or security reasons, a capital is moved from a border region to the center, such as in Kazakhstan, from Almaty to Astana (Akmola), or in Tanzania, from the coastal city of Dar es Salaam to Dodoma in the centre.

To choose one capital City for the E.U. among existing national capitals would create the greatest upheaval. In 1952, Brussels and Luxemburg were the center of the European- Coal and Steel Community, and as such, Brussels almost naturally kept headquarter status for the ensuing European Union. However to mark this as a temporary choice, Strasbourg was chosen as the Seat of Parliament, Luxemburg keeping administrative E.U. functions. With the enlargement to the East, the present most inefficient situation is even more questioned.

As a consensus on the choice of one existing capital will probably never be found, the solution will be to build a NEW CAPITAL CITY. It will be difficult enough to select a suitable site, acceptable to all the partners. The E.U. is composed of strong ethnic, religious, cultural, some formerly imperialistic, feudal, recently socialistic and nationalistic structures. The choice of a new E.U.capital site must overcome strong historic sentiments, national jealousies and at the same time open the way for a sustainable commonly desirable future.

CULTURAL ASPECTS INFLUENCING CITY DESIGN

European capital cities are marked and dominated by large national historic buildings and Parks. In Brussels there is not enough space left to create an adequate, meaningful and representative space worthy of the E.U. Capital. Present E.U.

Buildings are squeezed and dispersed over a mediocre urban zone. The E.U. needs and deserves a new Capital City, totally independent of any historic national and feudal structures, an urban space which will stand as a symbol for the new European spirit and its global influence.


Elected E.U. representatives and leaders should not reside in an old feudal palatial environment, in spaces designed for kings and emperors to avoid succumbing to feelings of superiority beyond their temporary elected democratic leader status? The E.U. Capital City design must reflect the democratic spirit of the Union. The relative simple White House in Washington may be compared with the awesome fortress-like appearance of the Kremlin. Should a president work and live in the same building, or should he return to his normal suburban citizens home in the evening? Shouldn’t his family life be separate from his function? Plato in „ The Republic“ discussed these questions that are still of pertinent interest. As the E.U. will not build its new capital city very soon, there is sufficient time for discussion and study to develop a sound basis for planning the future Capital City of the European Union.

THE EUROPEAN UNION EXTENSION POTENTIAL

Francophonie“, the Portuguese „Lusophonie“, the Dutch relationship with Indonesia, the Spanish special ties to South America, Africa and the Caribbean and many other strong European migratory ties to the USA and other countries There are also religious ties to the world, (the Vatican, the World Council of Churches). Eastern European states have strong cultural ties with Russia, Turkey, etc., Mediterranean States have stronger ties to North Africa, and the Atlantic states are closer to the Americas. Switzerland is a special case known for its NEUTRALITY. It gained a status for international activities and organizations (the UNO, the Red Cross, Olympic committee, etc.) It is in itself a small model of Europe, as it was able to unite its French, German, Italian and Romantsch constituents into one Confederation with a central multi-party government. Although being in the middle of the EU. It is not yet a member. These special world relationships of European states are of great value for world peace, they must be preserved and cultivated as they prevent the formation of single-minded continental interests that may lead to dangerous global confrontations.

CAPITAL CITY DESIGN must accompany the evolution of the government structure.

A layout of buildings, a visual accentuation, placing a building in the middle axis of monumental street (Champs Elysees, Arc de triumph) or on top of a hill (Capitol in Washington D.C. or the Parthenon), prescribing or prohibiting specific landuses will have influence on political life Should Parliament and the Executive co-exist in the same city, providing mutual observation, contact and control? Should the Supreme Court be placed at a considerable distance from the Capital City? To demonstrate the independence of the court, as is the case with the German Supreme Court placed in Karlsruhe? Are current trends at outsourcing secondary activities to the province a good idea?

A SPACE PROGRAM NEEDS ANSWERS TO THESE BASIC QUESTIONS:

• WHO WILL BE LIVING AND WORKING IN THE CAPITAL CITY?
  WHAT WILL BE THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES?
  HERE WILL THEY WORK AND LIVE?
  WHEN AND HOW LONG WILL THEY BE PRESENT?

The present dispersed or nomadic E.U. Government and administration structure is the result of laisser-faire, of hazard, of reactionto surprises, of the unforeseen and erratic adhesion of new members, of individual initiatives of some members of parliament or some strong lobbies. There is no comprehensive government concept, no vision of the future, no philosophic basis, no constitution. Now is the time to develop a program, to discuss the various scenarios and make a choice based on anup-to-date democratic transparent procedure designed for a sustainable E.U. future.

A space program isn’t an addition of all of the wishes of all concerned partners. Besides pure government functions we must ask: which other activities can fruitfully contribute to a capital city, and in what form? This question concerns universities, research and development, military academy, embassies, regional financial institutions, NGOs, tourism, cultural institutions, theaters, museums, etc. On the other hand there are government functions that need not be in the Capital City. In Washington D.C. for instance, only 27 % of the jobs are government jobs. There are too many non-government activities that have nothing to do in a Capital City and should be kept away, such as industries or other polluting activities. Powerful vital economic interests, who at present act through obscure lobbies, should operate in open transparency. Present E.U. politics seem to be limited on immediate national economic goals. The E.U. Needs to create a philosophical base for a sustainable future within a global world.

As predicted by Jacques Attali, the famous French futurologist, recent trends in outsourcing activities from core responsibilities are expected to also significantly reduce government administrations. This would go further than just dispersing routine work to outer regions in lack of employment, it might go as far as to outsource tax collection, military and police work, etc., to private contractors. This would greatly reduce the space needs of a capital city, which then would mostly concern prime leadership responsibilities.

EMBASSIES

With 27 member states, the EU will have to seriously consider the actual need of supporting 27 + l (EU Embassy) embassies in each of the world’s 192 countries, a total of 5 184 embassies and imposing on these countries to have as many representation in each of the 27 EU States, an immense waste of capital and human efforts. An embassy network system, which would regroup general EU, interests with the specific relations and ties of the concerned member states in one embassy operation would be more efficient. This is especially obvious in developing countries, where independent selfsufficient infrastructure costs of running an embassy are outrageous, sometimes comparable to the functioning of a small city.

DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATION

The history of older democratic states, such as the USA or Switzerland shows that the institution of two chambers, a senate representing the states on an equal basis, and the house of representatives based on population size, has outlived its original reason of being. Modern mobility and communications eroded the cultural differentiation between the partner states to a point  where the heavy political weight given to the historic states with two senators each, notwithstanding population size, must be questioned. In the US, a senator’s vote from the smallest state Wyoming with 509 000 inhabitants has now 71 times the weight of a senator from California with its 36 132 000 inhabitants. In Europe the disparity between the largest state Germany with 82.4 mio INH. And small Malta with 0.4 mio inh.. is 206 to 1. 

New forms of political power, not yet known to the founding fathers of the old democracies, have become overwhelmingly important and, having no official, legal political status, they will exert their effective real economic power through lobbies or plain corruption. They include industries, financial and service institutions, workers- and employees unions, customers organizations, cultural institutions, NGOs, etc. which should be given direct and transparent political influence. A new, modern meaningful E.U. Constitution could propose a congress representing the total effective differentiated interests of the people through five groups, each with 80 members:

General population, by numbers

• Industrial-, financial- and service institutions, by economic power
  Workers, employees other professional unions, by numbers
  Universities, religions, etc. to cover the philosophic realm
  Health, security, etc. to cover responsibility functions.

The new E.U. Congress could consist of 400 members representing the five power sectors members. The present 750 EU Parliamentarians (compare with 435 US Representatives, or Russia’s Duma 450 members) are too many to voice their opinions in the monthly four-day sessions, (the available 16 hours allow 1.28 minutes speaking time per member). The functioning of a modern EU Parliament cannot be based on a copy of old historic nationalistic parliamentary  representation.

The newest findings of social intercourse, of internetworking, must be recognized and utilized. The old formula: one person one vote must be questioned. Depending on a mix of IQ, age, responsibility (legal infractions) voting power may be differentiated. Before accepting old historic examples of constitutions which were written at a time when slavery was still acceptable, we must give ourselves a chance to explore better, more efficient and more humane ways to govern ourselves.

UNOFFICIAL SEMI-POLITICAL BODIES

Our new global world is discovering new forms of political opinion-making processes, such as the G8-, Davos-, Porto Allegre- or Kyoto meetings, etc. These are new ways of establishing general global norms of behavior, which later lead to actual laws. These meetings are not bound to specific capital cities, on the contrary, they prefer easy-to-protect, secluded places, such as Davos, where the invited participants find time for informal discussion, out-side their regular hectic life in the Capitals. Would such an environment not also be desirable for normal government functions. The Vatican, when selecting a new pope, cuts itself off from the outside world until the final choice is made. New government forms might benefit from such procedures, which would further reduce corruptive outside influences.

ADVISORY COUNCILS

In modern management and government, consultants play an increasingly important role. Managers, to reduce their responsibility, prefer to take decisions based on well-known „famous“ consultants advice. Modern THINK TANKS claim to  provide all-around wisdom to the management of big corporations or governments. Unfortunately, think tanks, as we know them, are mostly serving specific political, industrial or other partisan interests, who support them financially. Furthermore, as the name think tank discloses, they are mind-dominated, completely strange to other wider philosophic sensitivities, including non-rational life dimensions. We need an „ekistics“ or comprehensive total approach to life, reflecting all aspects, free from limited end gaining, egoistic, mostly short-term national motivations. Such new forms of council, made up of scientist-philosophers, which go beyond one-track democratic representation should play an open visible role in future E.U. government, or even carry an appropriate direct share of political responsibility. So far it hasn’t found its rightful place in our government hierarchy. In old tribal African villages one still encounters a „council of the elders“, which to a certain degree reflects that need for wisdom needed for sustainable growth. It is hidden in forgotten places, in university ivory towers, sometimes getting under control of pressure groups and lobbies. Ekistics work groups should assist or be part of executive as well as lawmaking function, they will provide knowledge, wisdom and ideas for the future. They will help a new form of democratic government to get away from pigeon-hole type, compartmentalized and bureaucratic action, where the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand does, from believing that the future is an extension of past experience, to obtain a comprehensive understanding of life for sustainable development. ... continuation ...

Walter R. Hunziker  
Cannes (France)