Reader’s Digest UK – August 2019

AUGUST 2019 • 95

I visit the next day. A multimedia

timeline ends with European

unification symbolised by the new

Rhine River bridge to Germany

and the presence in the city of the

European Parliament, the Council

of Europe, and the European Court

for Human Rights. If there's one

thing the presentation underlines,

it's the symbolic significance

of Strasbourg as the seat of the

European Parliament.

O

n my last afternoon in the

city, I follow the banks of the

river Ill and pass splendid

old townhouses and the

headquarters of the French-German

TV network Arte on my way to the

futuristic glass palace housing the

European Parliament. A temporary

press accreditation allows me to

sit in the press stand in the main

meeting room. Looking down into

the debating arena, I recognise some

of the members of this Parliament,

which has brought Europe an

unprecedented 70 consecutive years

of peace.

To the left of the chairman are

the Socialists and Greens, then the

Liberals and Christian Democrats

and the Conservatives to the right.

And all the way to the right are the

Nationalists and Euroskeptics,

eager to turn back the clock and

retreat behind borders and fences.

The history of this beautiful city

should serve as a warning to them,

and to us all. n

left: Thierry Schwaller preparing
Baeckoeffe; neo-classical
edifice of Strasbourg
University; Jugendstil
Lycée forgirls in
Neustadt