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Ask most folks where the center of the European Union is and theyll tell you Brussels.

Its an accurate response but also one that only acknowledges the magnificent, multilingual Belgian citys role as governmental center of the EU the de facto capital of the European community with additional institutional bodies being located in Luxembourg City, Frankfurt and the storybook Alsatian city of Strasbourg, which serves as the seat of the European Parliament.

Ask somewhat where the geographic center of the European Union is and youll likely get a shoulder shrug or a wild guess of "somewhere in the middle of Germany?" which, as it turns out, isnt too far off.

A different but no less confounding beast than identifying the geographic center of the European continent (more on that in a bit), the literal heart of the EU has relocated numerous times since its creation in 1958 with six founding states: France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and West Germany.

And its only been since 1987 that cartographers at Frances Institut National de lInformation Gographique et Forestire (formerly the Institut Gographique National or, simply, the IGN) have tracked the EUs ephemeral center, which moves based on the comings and goings until recently, exclusively the former of EU member states, which today includes 28 countries.

With the United Kingdoms highly lamented and highly damaging, as many speculate withdrawal from the EU pending, the heart of the European community is poised to move for the first time since July 2013 when the IGN, prompted by Croatias newly minted member status, identified the new geodetic center of Europe as Westerngrund, a small community in Bavaria, Germany, located about an hour east of the EUs financial center, Frankfurt.

X marks the spot: The post-Brexit center of Europe is located on a private farm located in the petite Bavarian hamlet of Gdheim. (Photo: Daniel Roland/AFP/Getty Images)

As it turns out, Brexit wont alter things too dramatically when it comes to the EUs ever-shifting center.

In fact, the heart of the EU will stay put in Bavaria fabled land of lederhosen and obscenely plump cased meats as Westerngrund passes the torch to Gdheim, an even smaller rural community located about an hour's drive southeast through the picturesque Bavarian countryside.

As the Guardian reports, the residents all 78 of them of tiny-teeny Gdheim are readying for an influx of attention and, of course, tourism. During its reign as EUs geographic center, Westerngrund welcome roughly 10,000 visitors per year. Many of these visitors traveled from across Europe and beyond to stand and snap selfies in an otherwise unassuming locale on the outskirts of the village that's easy to find thanks to an official marker, EU flags and a picnic area.

Westerngrund relished its somewhat brief time in the spotlight while also anticipating that one day its celebrity would be passed on. However, as Westerngrund mayor Brigitte Heim tells the Guardian, she's saddened that the move is prompted by the exit of a member state, not a country joining and strengthening the EU.

"We always knew it was a gift lent to us for a limited amount of time. We just set about making the most of it," says Heim. "But were shocked and saddened by Brexit. When we earned the title it was because a country had joined, now were losing it because for the first time a country is leaving the EU we just hope the negotiations might take a little longer than two years so we can hang on to it a little longer."

The rural German hamlet of Westerngrund has enjoyed its brief-ish stint as the geographic heart of the EU. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

In the beginning, during the European Unions six-member infancy, its center was located near Besanon, a major historic population center near the French-Swiss border. In 1987, the IGN identified the center of the 12-member-strong community as being more or less smack-dab in the middle of France, in the commune of Saint-Andr-le-Coq in the Auvergne-Rhne-Alpes (then Auvergne) region. In 1990, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, the center moved just slightly, about 15 miles to the northeast to the village of Saint-Clment.

When the EU grew to 15 members in 1995 with the accession of Finland, Sweden and Austria, the center drifted from France to the small Walloon town of Viroinval, in southwest Belgium.

This arrangement lasted nearly 10 years up until 2004 when the EU gained ten new members (Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Malta, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Cyprus, Latvia) and the midpoint shifted east to Germany. The center of the EU has remained in Germany ever since in three eventually four when Brexit kicks in different locales: Kleinmaischeid, a village in the wine-producing state of Rhineland-Palatinate (2004-2007); Gelnhausen, a postcard-perfect medieval market town in the center of the country in the state of Hesse (2007-2013); and, finally, Westerngrund, in northwest Bavaria, which was named the center of the EU by the IGN following the accession of Croatia in 2013.

In 2014, the French overseas department of Mayotte joined the EU although this shifted its center only slightly and it remained within the limits of Westerngrund, just in a different spot with different coordinates.

Upon becoming a 25-member community in 2004, the heart of the EU crept from Belgium into Germany. This monument is in the village of Kleinmaischeid. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

So how exactly do cartographers at the IGN go about identifying the geographic enter of the EU?

As the Guardian explains, these expert map wizards reached their new calculations by "digitally flattening out the entire EU terrain, then in effect lifting it up like a piece of cloth to find its precise middle." With the U.K. out of the equation come March 2019, the IGN identified the precise coordinates of the EUs center as being 9 54 07" E and 49 50 35" N, which lands in the middle of a rapeseed field owned by Gdheim farmer Karin Keler.

"It was a bit of a surprise to wake up to the news," Keler told the Guardian. "You could say Brexit has rattled us again, but in a good way, if thats possible."

It wasnt until Kelers software engineer son plugged in the exact coordinates established by the IGN that she discovered the new center of the EU or the "belly button of the EU" as she puts it wasnt just located in her diminutive farming community but on their very own 136-acre property.

As the mayor of Veitshoechheim, a municipality that includes Gdheim, Jrgen Gtz tells the Guardian that he looks forward to the villages newfound fame and promoting the area's scenic, vineyard-dotted countryside. But unlike previous shifts of the EUs center, this one is more bittersweet than anything.

"Of course we have mixed feelings about all this," he tells the Guardian. "Were still discussing what well do: put up a proper flag pole, erect a sausage kiosk, a hiking route with Westerngrund, that sort of thing. But well enjoy it while it lasts. We can also wish that the talks might collapse and itll never happen. Then again, if Scotland or Serbia were to join, everything will shift once more."

Located near the Franconian city of Wuerzburg in northern Bavaria, Gdheim is a farming community with just shy of 80 residents. (Photo: Daniel Roland/AFP/Getty Images)

The move from Westerngrund to Gdheim is indeed the first shift of the European communitys geographic midpoint to result from the exit of a full member state. However, constituent parts of full member states have withdrawn in the past including Greenland, part of the Kingdom of Denmark, in 1985. Algeria relinquished its EU member status after gaining independence from France in 1962. Unlike Brexit, both of these withdrawals did not have an impact on IGN calculations.

As Agence-France Presse notes, residents of both Westerngrund and Gdheim expressed concerns about the possibility that they'd also risk losing France, too, although the recent defeat of far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen to her pro-EU opponent Emmanuel Macron has likely soothed those anxieties.

"Brexit is a step backwards. Things can't go on like this," Westerngrund mayor Brigitte Heim explained. "Of course we hope that France doesn't take the same step."

Major European countries that are not official members of the EU and never have been include Norway, Switzerland and Iceland along with several Balkan and former Eastern Bloc countries such as the Ukraine, Macedonia and Albania. Microstates such as Monaco, Andorra, San Marino and Liechtenstein are also not members. Asia-straddling Turkey has been vying to join for at least 20 years to join the EU although current president Tayyip Erdogan doesnt exactly seem too keen on continuing that push.

This leads to the question: where then, is the geographic center of Europe itself, not the European Union?

That answer has varied over the years as it largely depends on who is making the calculations and exactly how they are going about it given that important variables are subject to change.

In 1775, a Polish astronomer made the first such calculation when he declared the midpoint of Europe to be Suchowola, a town in the far northeast of Poland near the Belarus border. Subsequent calculations over the years have landed the coordinates in Estonia, Hungary, Belarus and Slovakia.

The most widely accepted coordinates, however, are 5454N 2519E, which places the center of Europe just outside the Lithuanian village of Purnuks, not too far from this highly developed Baltic nations stunning capital city of Vilnius.

What's the geographic midpoint of Europe, not the EU? The answer may vary although a spot near Vilnus, Lithuania, is perhaps the most well-known. (Screenshot: Google Maps)

This calculation, determined by an IGN scientist in 1989, has turned this unlikely site into a popular tourist attraction complete with an impressive white granite monument.

The United States has two recognized geographic centers. The first, established after Arizona and New Mexico gained statehood in 1912, is situated in extreme north-central Kansas, just a few miles south of the Nebraska border near the community of Lebanon. (Fans of Neil Gaiman's "American Gods," now a much buzzed-about TV series, are probably well-acquainted with this far-flung prairie outpost.)

Determined in 1959 by the U.S. National Geodetic Survey, the second recognized center takes into consideration the entire U.S. including Alaska and Hawaii and not just the 48 contiguous states. (Territories not included.) By this calculation, the geographic midpoint of the U.S. is located in a pasture about 20 miles north of Belle Fourche, county seat of Butte County, South Dakota.

This all said, the geographic heart of the U.S., unlike the EU, is unlikely to change. But given the uncomfortable and unsettled political atmosphere at the moment, you never know what might happen down the line

Matt Hickman ( @mattyhick ) writes about design, architecture and the intersection between the natural world and the built environment.

Excerpt from:
Tracking the ever-shifting geographic heart of the European Union - Mother Nature Network (blog)

On this weeks first episode of The E.R., David Rothkopf, Rosa Brooks, Ed Luce, and Julie Smith discuss the French election results, what it means for the rest of the European Union and, more broadly, the world. With Macron claiming a big victory over the weekend, many are now breathing a sigh of relief that France didnt put a far-right leader in office. But even so, it is still disturbing that one-third of Frances population voted for Marine Le Pen, and the panel argues that this is part of a deeper-rooted structural crisis that is likely to get worse before it gets better.

The E.R. team then takes a step back and looks at the future of the EU as a whole and the U.S. relationship with its European allies and NATO. With Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, and France having recently rejected populist far-right movements, can the European project get back on track acting as a global check to other unbalanced powers? Maybe even throwing some newfound mojo back at the United States?

Rosa Brooksis a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and teaches international law, national security, and constitutional law at Georgetown University. She is the author of How Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything. Follow her on Twitter:@brooks_rosa.

Ed Luceis theFinancial Timess chief U.S. commentator and columnist based in Washington, D.C. He is also the author of the forthcoming book, The Retreat of Western Liberalism, out June 13. Follow him on Twitter:@EdwardGLuce.

Julie Smith is a contributing editor to FPs Shadow Government blog. She is also a senior fellow and director of the strategy and statecraft program at the Center for a New American Security, and was previously the deputy national security advisor to Vice President Joe Biden. Follow her on Twitter: @Julie_C_Smith.

David Rothkopfis the CEO and editor of the FP Group. Follow him on Twitter:@djrothkopf.

Tune in, now twice a week, to FPsThe E.R.

Subscribe toThe E.R.andGlobal Thinkers podcasts on iTunes.

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The European Union Just Squeaked By - Foreign Policy (blog)

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The European Union: Turning Crisis into Opportunity Mizzima News Every year on the 9th of May, the EU celebrates what is now the longest period of peace in European history, i.e. seven decades of security, stability, solidarity and prosperity for its people. On this occasion, and besides too widespread micro ... Will the European Union's centre hold?RFI From the idea of peace to the European Union European Western ...European Western Balkans (press release) European Union Marks Europe Day TodayFiji Sun Online all 25 news articles »

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The European Union: Turning Crisis into Opportunity - Mizzima News

The Government has expressed heartfelt gratitude for the significant developmental grant support that the European Union (EU) continues to extend to Jamaica, under a Cooperation Agreement signed 42 years ago.

Provisions under this arrangement over the period have, to date, totalled in excess of $100 billion (1 billion).

Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, Senator the Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith, said the funds have been channelled into key Government focus areas, including health, housing, justice and national security.

She also highlighted bilateral support that Jamaica continues to receive from individual EU member states, adding that we are pleased that five of them have maintained resident diplomatic missions in Kingston, providing ready opportunities to strengthen our relationships in a multiplicity of areas.

Senator Johnson Smith was speaking at a special reception hosted by the Office of the EU Delegation in Jamaica at the Mona Visitors Lodge, University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, to mark Europe Day on Monday, May 8.

Head of the EU Delegation, Ambassador Malgorzata Wasilewska, said the EU members are proud of the fact that as we have grown, we have extended support to others through investments, development assistance and humanitarian aid, while assuring that we will continue to do so.

She further noted that Jamaicas partnership with the EU has made a difference for the country in a range of areas.

These, Ambassador Wasilewska said, include increasing Jamaicas competitiveness, building resilience in agriculture and fostering development; facilitating better and faster access to justice for all Jamaicans, particularly women and children; building houses, schools and roads; providing training, scholarships and well needed medical supplies and equipment; and refurbishing hospitals.

She also acknowledged bilateral partnership programmes between Jamaica and individual EU members states, while expressing gratitude to the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) for their tireless support and cooperation in the implementation of all the projects that we have (engaged in).

The European Unions partnership with Jamaica has deepened since our Cooperation Agreement was signed in 1975. It remains strong today, and I am happy to say that in my encounters with the Jamaican Government, the commitment to continue and build that relationship is strong on both sides, Ambassador Wasilewska said.

We will stay the course and continue the support for growth and development, to reduce poverty and improve the lives of the people of Jamaica, she added.

The reception, which also served to mark the 60th anniversary of the EUs establishment, featured an exhibition, documentary presentation and the cutting of a commemorative cake.

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European Union Lauded for Support - Government of Jamaica, Jamaica Information Service

If the only way to create a United States of Europe is to avoid consulting the people, why should the goal even be pursued?

A public art piece in Dublins Grand Canal Square called: The European Union Is About To Explode. (Photo: William Murphy/Streets Of Dublin/CC)

A sigh of relief was heard across Europe on Sunday night, as far-right candidate Marine Le Pen was beaten soundly in the French presidential runoff election, losing to centrist Emmanuel Macron 66 percent to 34 percent.

Le Pen had come in a close second to Macron in the first round of voting two weeks earlier, less than three points back (24 percent to 21.3 percent) in a crowded field that also included conservative Francois Fillon (20 percent) and leftist Jean-Luc Mlenchon (19.6 percent) among the top vote-getters.

Le Pen capitalized on the anti-establishment fervor sweeping the Western world to challenge for the top spot with a strong critique of financial globalization and the European Union (E.U.), mixed in with her partys historical message of nationalism with racist overtones. Together with Mlenchon, the first round saw over 40 percent of the votes go to these extreme candidates, indicating the presence of widespread dissatisfaction with the political lites and their current economic and social policies.

The fear among European political institutions was that Le Pens anti-E.U. message would either carry her to the presidency or at least call into question Frances adherence to the institutions that have transferred large chunks of sovereignty from the single nations of Europe to a supranational bureaucracy.

Macron, on the other hand, defended the E.U. despite recognizing widespread disaffection regarding European institutions. He stressed the need to restore confidence in the Union, while adopting a peculiar argument about how Europe is actually the best instrument to defend the sovereignty of its member states.

His decisive victory in the runoff election, although somewhat tainted by record levels of abstention and blank or spoiled ballots, is causing optimism among pro-E.U. politicians, who are now able to counter the populist narrative with the democratic election of a pro-European president of France.

This argument merits considerable skepticism, as the assumption of majority support for the supranational E.U. institutions based on the election of a national leader is quite a leap. Indeed the issue of the democratic legitimacy of the E.U. itself is a thorny one, due to electoral failures and questionable tactics used to ensure the construction of unpopular international bodies that impose profound changes in economic and social policies among the Unions member states.

The French foreign ministry building is lit up to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome in Paris, France, Friday, March 24, 2017. March 25th 2017 marks the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome that effectively gave birth to the European Union. (AP/Michel Euler)

The origins of the E.U. go back to the 1950s. First there was the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, an agreement for regulation of industrial production among six countries: France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Then came the Rome Treaties of 1957, which gave birth to the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom).

The stated goal, encouraged by the United States in the context of the Cold War, was to lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe, principally through economic cooperation based on the European common market. Over the subsequent decades the communities expanded to include 12 countries, an alliance of independent nation-states seeking increasing cooperation at the European level.

A phase shift began in the 1990s. The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 transformed the communities into the European Union, and defined a path that would lead to the single currency, the Euro. Other countries were also invited to join, gradually bringing the total up to 28 Member States by 2013, although only 19 of them would participate in the monetary union. The new model of cooperation was that defined in 1992, with the goal of moving towards a single super-state based not only on economic union, but political union as well.

This goal immediately ran into a major obstacle: the popular will. Only three countries held referendums on the Maastricht Treaty: Ireland, France and Denmark. The first two were successful, but the population of Denmark voted against it. This would have been the death knell for the Treaty, so a decision was made to hold a second referendum, in which Maastricht was subsequently approved. The other participating countries merely had their Parliaments vote up the Treaty, so as to avoid the risk of a popular rejection.

The next big step in economic policy was called the Stability and Growth Pact, implementing stricter budget rules based on specific deficit/GDP and debt/GDP parameters. For years the Pact was the key instrument for imposing continuous austerity on the Member States. Here there was no attempt at obtaining approval even of the Parliaments, as the Stability and Growth Pact was enacted simply as an E.U. Regulation in 1997.

Supporters of the communist-affiliated union PAME burn a EU flag during an anti-austerity rally in Athens, Wednesday, Mar. 1, 2017. (AP/Yorgos Karahalis)

As economic and monetary policy became increasingly centralized and rigid, the risk of a lack of political legitimacy was evident. The response was to attempt the construction of a strong European government, by drawing up an E.U. Constitution.

Given the direct effect on sovereignty, some countries held referenda on the text, starting with France and the Netherlands. In 2005, the French rejected the proposed constitution 55 percent to 45 percent, just a few days before the Dutch did the same, with an even higher margin of 62 percent to 38 percent.

The idea of creating a United States of Europe had been stopped in its tracks, rejected by the democratic vote of two important Member States. A normal response would have been to recognize that the peoples of Europe werent ready for full integration, but the institutions decided to go in a different direction.

Since a Constitution wouldnt pass, they began drawing up a new treaty with essentially the same goal; the advantage was that a treaty could simply be passed by the Parliaments, avoiding putting it before the voters.

The result was the Lisbon Treaty, another step forward in consolidating the supranational power of the structures of the European Union. The path to ratification met only one serious obstacle, the requirement established by the Irish Supreme Court of holding a referendum on any treaties that go beyond the essential scope or objectives of existing E.U. documents. In 2008 the Irish rejected the Lisbon Treaty, throwing a wrench into this plan as well. Never fear, the Irish government called a second referendum a year later, and through a number of carrots and sticks the population was induced to pass it the second time.

The Lisbon Treaty entered in force in 2009, and remains the framework for the new form of the European Union, strengthening institutions, which from the 1990s on have been able to dictate economic policy to the member governments, thus keeping everyone in line with the policy orientation of the transatlantic lites.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen speaks during a press conference at the National Front party headquarters in Nanterre, outside Paris, Friday, June 24, 2016. (AP/Kamil Zihnioglu)

The case of Ireland shows the preferred method of European institutions for consolidating E.U. authority. First a goal is set, and then the method is chosen to meet it. If the most influential European politicians agree, the consent of the governed becomes merely an annoying detail to get around however possible.

In subsequent years additional treaties were passed with practically no public debate at all. One of the most important is the European Fiscal Compact (2012), an even stricter version of the Stability and Growth Pact, which obliges Member States to balance their budgets and reduce their debt.

To get a flavor for the ideology, consider the provision of the debt brake: any country that fails to reduce its debt-to-GDP ratio to below 60 percent is required to cut the debt by 5 percent each year for 20 straight years; a level of austerity that in some countries would require massive cuts in essential services.

The preferred method for moving forward with European integration raises serious questions. If the only way to create a United States of Europe is to avoid consulting the people, why should the goal even be pursued? The response often heard is based on circular reasoning: Europe needs to be built in order to meet the needs of the people, then the people will understand why its so important.

In the elections held so far this year in European countries, the anti-E.U. candidates have increased their votes considerably, but have not made it into the halls of power. For most of the European political class this is a relief, as they feared an imitation effect after the anti-establishment Brexit vote in June 2016 and the election of Donald Trump in the U.S. last November.

It would be a mistake, however, to consider the rejection of far-right candidates an endorsement of greater integration of European nations through supranational institutions, that to date have proved not only unable to deal with the economic effects of globalization, but also impervious to the democratic opinions of European citizens.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Mint Press News editorial policy.

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The European Union's Democracy Dilemma - MintPress News - Mintpress News (blog)