Up for president!

I love being a club member. There was even a time that I collected membership cards! The following had the honour of having me as a member: a tennis club (for the boys in nice tennis shorts, hum yes my first boyfriend I met on the tennis court), speech team (for the delicious cream sticks as a treat!), a volleyball team (for the drinks after the training session), two student sororities (for the parties), a cooking club (for the food and laughs!) the YMCA (part of the exchange student experience in the USA), the 'Liegebeestclub' (too hard to explain this membership), the 'Gezinsbond' (for their discounts!!), Greenpeace (for the tax reduction!), and a book club (for the books and meaningful conversations). Guess that I love to be part of something and that I believe in shared causes.

Some of these clubs have also a chairman or a president. In some cases I never knew the name of this person! When I was young (and call me naive!)It seemed that most of these clubs not needed a person in charge. As long I was a happy member I don't really saw the sense of having somebody calling the shots. But like we all know do most clubs need some kind of authority.

One international club that is desperately searching for a president is the EU! It always nice to have a fellow country man on the list of runner ups. So yes, happy to hear that Herman would qualify for this job! He might not have the sex appeal of Sarkozy and not have a wife that can sing! So then Paparazzi won't have an easy time to dish up yummy stories about this perhaps less colourful politician!

HVR might not have the best colour choices of ties and he might be a bit boring in his choice of hobbies. But hey, writing 'Haiku' means that he also has a deeper side to discover! A grey mouse some people call him but for the moment I am a bit fed up with would be politicians who think that politics is a one man show! And when I look at the alternatives I hold my breath. Especially two names make me a bit edgy.

One: the Harry Potter of the Low Countries! In general I don't really consider this man of state a bad choice but they have this attitude thing going on! I can already picture the whole European parliament colour bright orange because JP got into office! Over and over we all will be reminded that they managed to become the first and the best leader of the EU! So on top of cheese with holes, Heineken beer, bikes, wooden clogs, poffertjes, Van Gogh & Rembrandt the Dutch man will promote the EU fiercely. And you can be assured that it won't be long before the first Dutch-Belgian jokes will pop up covering this election victory! You can be sure that we will be once more the laughing stock of the cheesy nation!

Number two: Tony Blair!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Hey, I love British accents! Hugh Grant, Hugh Larie, John Cleese, Stephen Fry, Rowan Atkinson, Colin Firth, Matthew MacFadyen are for me for sure on my list as superb British actors and talented human beings. But please try to explain to me why a nation as grant as the UK still refuses to use the European currency but wants then deliver the first president! If it comes to voting this tea nation really kicked some ass! And yes, they always are the party crashers if it comes to backing up Belgian candidates.

The UK has a love&hate relationship with the EU! They only want a sip of the hot cup of tea when it is sweet enough. They spit out the bitter aftertaste and refuse to add some less obvious ingredients. Can't blame them that they want to keep their own traditions like strangely shaped coins, Trooping the colour, tea mugs with the royal family or Guy Fawkes Night! I am all in favour of these sparkling objects of affection. But it beats me that they still can't come to terms with the consequences of joining an international club with certain rules and regulations!

If you then want to stand out and go against the stream once in a while then this also means that you can't get the maximum out of your membership card! The British politicians always give me the impression that they want to stand united but only under their conditions! And on top of things they will make sure that they will go out into the limelight to announce how we are going to fight back against terrorism, climate change & the economic crises. More then once this nation already felt themselves as the spoke person of the EU!

So, no I am very sorry but this cup of tea will neither agree with me. So to me it doesn't really matter if Herman makes the vote. It would be nice for once to have a Belgian in such a highly symbolic (because let's face it that is what is mainly stands for!) position. When it comes to comparing interest I do think that H has got the best shots. What are fast cars (Tony) and travelling (JP) compared to writing Japanese poetry?

And to give you an idea of what HVR is capable of. Here the Haiku he created for Poetry day in 2008 and covering his wishes for the time to come in Belgian politics:

'Van kerst tot klokken van winter tot lentetijd reist niets tot iets'

'From xmas to chimes from winter to springtime travels something from nothing to something'

P.S.: Please don't take this piece of writing personal! I love the UK and I still love going shopping at the AH in Maastricht!