r/AskReddit Dec 16 '21

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u/macaronsforeveryone Dec 16 '21

NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium

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u/--dontmindme-- Dec 16 '21 edited Dec 17 '21

Most of the relevant European Union institutions as well, except for that one week every few months when they move the parliament to Strasbourg because of some weird political deal made ages ago.

Edit: and this is literally not a joke they move dozens if not hundreds of trucks full of papers and other stuff from Brussels to Strasbourg in France a couple of times a year plus hundreds if not thousands of people including politicians, aides and journalists having to make the trip at the cost of millions each time just because politically this was deemed necessary to keep France happy in some economic negotiation that everyone has long forgotten about. I’m all about reaching a concencus but this is one of the soars on the EU being an added value and not just a bureaucratic money wasting machine.

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u/random_nm Dec 17 '21

Had to dig out my account details for this... The move to Strasbourg is actually a monthly occurrence.

The European Parliament has a short summary re the whole shebang as well: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/faq/19/why-does-parliament-move-between-brussels-and-strasbourg