Which European city is the ideal capital of the European Union?

Challenges from Central Europe…

This article defines four centres of gravity:

1. A ‘diplomatic centre of gravity', assuming that the only pertinent consideration is distance;
2. A ‘demographic centre of gravity', which takes the relative size of populations into account;
3. A ‘metropolitan centre of gravity' which considers the type of persons most likely to participate in Union activities;
4. A ‘civic centre of gravity', based on the number and significance of secretariats of international governmental organisations and NGOs.

Based on several computation techniques, a top-10 for each criterion is presented. Interestingly, Brussels scores a first place for the last category only. In the other scenarios, a capital situated more to the south east of Europe would be more defendable. Prague, Frankfurt, Munich and Vienna could all challenge the position Brussels currently holds.

…are not likely to succeed

Or could they? In spite of all the above considerations, it would be very unlikely that such a movement would take place. There are three main reasons for this inertia:

Sunk Costs are important, as European Bodies, the representations of states and regions and lobbyists have all built or purchased office buildings. They would resist losing these investments.

Secondly, Network Power produces a magnet effect, so that the more organisations settle there, the more the 'urban area externalities' will attract new settlers.

Finally, ordinary Stalemate will probably prevent a decision of this magnitude to be taken. Even when the European Community was made up of six member states, they could not reach a formal agreement on the choice of a capital. Due to a lack of agreement, the capital which had assumed the first rotating presidency – Brussels- gradually took root in the role as permanent headquarter.

For these three reasons, all other arguments presented are not strong enough to cause a move.

Document Type

Research document

Publication date

May 2010

Contact

Philippe Van Parijs
philippe.vanparijs@uclouvain.be