| If there’s one thing to say about Brussels, it's that it’s complicated. In the EU bubble, nothing fills people with pride quite like dropping a piece of jargon into a conversation at a convenient moment to prove their insider status. A completely normal conversation might go like this: “Have you heard about the omnibus?” “Yeah, I heard it will make massive changes to the CSRD.” “It's crazy how much the Antwerp Declaration has influenced policy, while La Hulpe was largely ignored!” People who have moved to Brussels to make a living in EU affairs (read: lobbying) love to feel like insiders, which is why the media outlets that most convincingly appear to be in on the rumour mill remain the most-read in the bubble (even if some of their reporters are moving on). But the downside of this insider speak is that it becomes gibberish for everyone who does not spend their nights in the bars of Plux or their breakfast at Karsmakers (see what I did there?). Even worse, there’s a fresh acronym at least every month, coinciding with new initiatives from a Commission that – unlike explicitly stated in the EU treaties – feels responsible for every topic. “If it matters to Europeans, it matters to Europe,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in her re-election speech last year. Wrong! Things should matter to the EU only if it was explicitly tasked for them, and if they can’t be done better at national level, as this Article in one of the two core EU treaties affirms.
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