EUROPEAN DIARY:ALL GOOD things must come to an end and my four-year tour of duty in Belgium covering European affairs comes to a conclusion next month when I return to Dublin to reacquaint myself with Irish life, writes JAMIE SMYTH
Brussels, which is probably best known overseas for its strong beers and delicious chocolates, has, in truth, never been one of the glamour posts for foreign correspondents.
One BBC correspondent in Brussels provoked a diplomatic incident a few years back when he described the city as the “filthiest, most dilapidated capital city in the EU” in his final broadcast.
Other correspondents, notably the Spanish and Italians, complain bitterly about the weather, particularly the rain and fog that can descend on the city for a large part of the autumn and winter seasons. For others, dealing with Byzantine Belgian bureaucracy, which has turned form-filling into an art form, can be a pain in the neck that colours their stay in the capital of EU.
But for those who eventually manage to register with the authorities (I know two colleagues who faced deportation orders and one who had his bank account frozen for not ticking the right boxes), Belgium has a lot to offer.
Eating out is usually a pleasure in the country, with thousands of good-quality restaurants to choose from and a variety that still can’t be found in Dublin.
Belgium boasts 94 restaurants with Michelin stars, two of which have earned the most prestigious three-star status. It is usually cheaper to eat out at a quality restaurant in Brussels than at an equivalent in Ireland. There is also less of the pretentiousness that can go with dining out in top-class restaurants in Dublin, London or Paris, although the quality of service tends to be a bit on the grumpy side.
Belgians can be a pretty down- to-earth lot, which may explain why their favourite tipple is beer rather than wine.
But Belgian beer isn’t like beer back home, particularly the six varieties brewed by trappist monks. My first encounter with Chimay Bleu – a delicious dark-brown trappist beer that has a 9 per cent alcohol content – ended up with me nursing a nasty hangover.
Since those early days I’ve diversified and moved on to drinking beers with slightly lower alcohol content.
And in Belgium, which has 120 breweries and almost 500 varieties of beer, there is plenty of opportunity to explore the different tastes and textures of the lambic, pilsner and trappist beers on offer.
Becoming a father was the biggest adventure of my posting. It also highlighted some of the most positive aspects of Belgian life, namely great healthcare and childcare.
My partner got a four-night stay in a hospital room on her own after giving birth in Belgium around the same time Irish mothers were reportedly being checked into hotels prior to their delivery due to pressure on hospital resources.
Childcare costs are also a fraction of those in Ireland. I pay €600 a month for a place in a private creche, while public creches can cost as little as €250 a month if you get your baby’s name on a list in time.
There are also plenty of playgrounds in Brussels. There are five playgrounds within a 10-minute walk of my apartment complete with swings, slides and sandpits.
In contrast, Dublin City Council recently built a block of flats on top of a disused public tennis facility close to my house in Cabra, and there is just one playground that I remember being within 10 minutes’ walk.
Brussels also boasts an integrated and efficient transport system. I can use a single ticket on trams, buses and the metro and generally only have to wait a few minutes for the next train to come.
It also benefits from great high-speed rail connections to cities such as Paris (1½ hours) and Amsterdam (2½ hours).
Of course, public services like these do not come cheap and tax rates in Belgium are among the highest in Europe.
Social insurance and income tax rates can rise to more than 50 per cent for relatively modest earners.
But there is generally far less focus on wealth in Belgium than there is in Ireland, at least the Ireland I left at the height of the Celtic Tiger in October 2005.
So I’ll bid a fond farewell to Brussels, which may not be one of the grandest capitals in Europe, but in its own low-key way it offers a lot to its residents.