Brussels: Oct. 18-20, 2018

More than two years have passed since the U.K.’s decision to leave EU. I visited Brussels this time on the day when the EU summit meeting was held. No progress was made on Brexit negotiation. ASEN (Asia-Europe) summit was also held.

The scenes around EU is gradually changing, I found.

There is a big curtain placed in the headquarters buildings of European Commission.

The Berlin wall was places in front of the headquarters building.

At the buildings of the Commission’s divisions, their functions are well explained on the walls

Objects of “European” were placed near the headquarters.

All shows EU’s efforts to gain people’s understanding.

People’s reactions looked to be cool.

There are less EU-related goods in the souvenir shops near the Grand Market. The shops shared more spaces for the goods related to Brussels and Belgium than before.

There were various demonstrations held in the Schuman district, where the EU institutions gather. They include gatherings of Catalonian people to appeal their independence from Spain to European leaders. People from Bangladesh held another demonstration for democracy.

There are many reporters gathered to cover EU and ASEM summits.

The security looks to have been stricter as times go. Security members with machine guns guarded the meetings.

I visited Molenbeek, where the terrorists of November 2015 Paris attacks stayed. The weakness of security maintenance was criticized. Now, the atmosphere seemed improved than two years ago, when I visited there last time.