Emmanuel van Innis: a new vision for a greater Brussels

Emmanuel van Innis sits in his office near the royal palace dreaming about making Brussels a better city. “We want to make Brussels Metropolitan one of the most fashionable and attractive areas in Europe,” he says. “We would like to see a simplification of taxation and administration. But, most important of all, we would like to end the high rate of unemployment.”

Mr van Innis is president of Business Route 2018 for Metropolitan Brussels, which was set up in 2008 to make the city a more attractive place to live and work. The need for such an organisation became particularly urgent at the end of 2007 when Belgium was in the grip of a political crisis that threatened to leave the country without a federal government.

The impetus for boosting the image of Brussels came from the business world rather than the politicians. “I had just been elected as chairman of the Brussels employers’ organisation Beci at the time,” he explains. “Foreign companies were worried about investing in a country that looked unstable. So we thought it was important to send out a positive message.”

Van Innis met his counterparts in the three other Belgian employers’ organisations – the Flemish Voka, Wallonia’s UWE and the federal organisation VBO/FEB – and they came up with a joint strategy for Brussels. “We focused on Brussels because Brussels is important for Flanders and Wallonia,” he explains. “It is important in fact for the economy of the whole country.”

The four organisations reached a unanimous conclusion – a stronger Brussels was vital to secure the future prosperity of Belgium. “Brussels is capital of Europe, the headquarters of Nato, a base for thousands of international organisations,” van Innis says. “It is the main business area for the entire country.”

The four organisations looked at the problems that threatened the future role of Brussels as a business centre. They concluded that the city needed a coordinated approach beyond the limits of Brussels Region. “We were convinced that the Brussels economic and social area went far beyond the institutional boundaries of the nineteen municipalities,” he says.

The initial discussions led to the launch of the idea of a Metropolitan Brussels Region – a region that would bring together 62 municipalities, including towns such as Overijse, Halle, Zaventem, Ottignies, Louvain-la-Neuve, Waterloo and Wavre. “We defined Metropolitan Brussels, with the help of the University of Basel, as an area corresponding roughly to the old province of Brabant – with the exception of the arrondissement of Leuven,” van Innis explains.

The creation of this new area is essential, van Innis argues, because people living in Metropolitan Brussels share the same economic and physical space. “There are common problems in areas like transport policy, the labour market and education. So we need to join forces to work on solutions.”

Van Innis acknowledges that the idea of Metropolitan Brussels is likely to arouse strong opposition beyond the city limits. Some municipalities on the outskirts of Brussels are deeply hostile to any plan that looks as if it threatens to undermine the institutional boundaries of the Brussels Region. “I want to strongly confirm that Metropolitan Brussels has no hidden agenda to expand the institutional limits of the Brussels Region,” he says.

His association believes it is essential to adopt a more flexible approach to the use of English. Van Innis recalls a trip to Rome when his wallet was stolen and the police were able to offer official forms in various languages, including French and Dutch. The city would improve its international image if official forms were available in English, for international companies and expatriates.

Van Innis emphasises that they do not want English to become a third official language. “We just want to make it easier for an international company, or someone who moves to Belgium, to deal with the formalities in English.”

With the city’s population set to increase by 200,000, urban development is going to continue. “The urbanisation process cannot be stopped by law,” he says. “It is something that is happening all over the world.”

In the four years since it was set up, Business Route 2018 for Metropolitan Brussels has already made significant progress. The biggest step forward has been to adapt employment policies to the metropolitan area. Unemployed people in Brussels can now be made to take up suitable employment in areas outside the city. “This was very difficult in the past,” van Innis says.

Van Innis and his colleagues would also like to see more low-skilled jobs in Brussels. “At the moment, Brussels offers jobs to highly qualified people who mostly live outside the city,” he says. “But we need to create more low-level jobs in hotels, restaurants, services and so on, for people living in the city.”

As an example, we have to build a large event and sport stadium somewhere in Brussels, as this would generate low-grade jobs for hundreds of unemployed people in the area, both during the construction phase and once it was operating.

Van Innis is clearly frustrated at the massive inequalities in Brussels, which is paradoxically both a rich city and a poor city. “The city represents ten percent of the population, but generates twenty percent of national income,” he argues. “But it still has an unemployment rate of twenty percent – the highest level in the country.”   

He sees the roots of the problem in the education system in Brussels, where the French-speaking schools (which take about 90 percent of young people) are chronically underfunded. “The quality of education in Brussels is less good compared to both Flanders and Wallonia,” he argues. As a result, young people leave school without the qualifications they need to get a job.

He thinks the education system should be more focused on the needs of the employment market. And that means, he argues, that there should be more emphasis on teaching foreign languages, particularly English. “We have top schools and universities in Brussels,” he says. “But the other schools are failing the students.”

Van Innis believes that a better education system – one offering courses that are designed with an eye on the job market – would have a huge impact on the quality of life in the city – not just for young people, but for everyone. “If young people had jobs, we would get cleaner streets, less violence, more security,” he argues.  

He would also like to see the international community play a greater role in shaping Brussels. But this could be difficult to achieve. Van Innis is disappointed by the small percentage of EU residents who registered to vote in the municipal elections – just 13.75 percent, compared to 15.7 percent in 2006. He would like to see EU citizens doing more to make their voice heard.  

But his first priority is to ensure that the law creating the Metropolitan Brussels area is respected. He believes this is essential if Brussels is to hold on to its privileged international status. “If we really want to remain the capital of Europe, we have to improve the international role and attractiveness of Brussels,” he says. And that means Metropolitan Brussels has to become a reality.