#eurobubble

"When I arrived in Brussels I was told that Eurocrats don't really live in Belgium. Well, the truth is: They don't even live in Brussels." Accompanied by electronic beats, the 43-second-trailer of the Eurobubble series manages to draw an ironic yet authentic picture of the atmosphere in the microcosm of young professionals working in the capital of Europe. E&M looks at the development of what is currently becoming the first comedy series on Eurocrats.

In spite of the impact which the EU's legislation has on its citizens, Europeans are only marginally interested in what is happening in Brussels. The daily political processes in the European capital are perceived as too technical, too distant and irrelevant. This is both a cause and a consequence of the media's lack of reporting on it. Documentaries shedding light on EU affairs are rare and only reach a few viewers. Against this background, it is not surprising that European politics has not yet inspired moviemakers either. There does not seem to be an audience.

The genre itself has inspired many artists and has always found audiences. Great writers of all ages have fictionalised the use and misuse of political power. Political dramas, thrillers and comedies entertain millions. The creators of TV series were the first to portray the daily politics as well as the lives of the people involved. The 1970s series Yes Minister remains one of the most popular sitcoms in the UK and even created one of the most resistant Euromyths: The Eurosausage. Meanwhile, quite a few people on both sides of the Atlantic would name Jed Bartlet, protagonist of Alan Sorkin's The West Wing, as their favourite US president.

Despite the apparent appeal of political fiction for readers and viewers, books, movies, and TV series don't tend to be set in political Brussels. Are Eurocrats simply too boring for fiction? A couple of months ago, this magazine suggested that Europe needs Aaron Sorkin. Well, we have not yet been successful in convincing him to make a European version of "The West Wing" but we might have found an alternative.

Actually Yacine Kouhen, the 30-year-old producer, screenwriter and lead actor of the Eurobubble series never watched The West Wing or Yes Minister. In fact, he was inspired by an entirely apolitical show, the French series Bref, which shows life in Paris from the perspective of a thirty-year-old unemployed antihero. In one to three minutes and at an intense pace, each episode depicts the protagonist's banal daily experiences and turns them into rapid-fire images and dialogues. Launched in August 2011, the show went viral on social networks, attracting 1.5 million likes on facebook in three months.

The Eurobubble series follows a similar concept. "The idea was to make it short but intensive," explains Yacine. Seen from the perspective of a 'policy officer' who remains unnamed, the series portrays the lives of young professionals working on European affairs in Brussels. Located around the European institutions, countless lobby firms, public affairs companies, NGOs and think tanks attract graduates from all over Europe. "It is a specific elite" explains Yacine, "they speak various languages, have studied European politics, law or economics at some of the best universities in Europe and they are all doing the same things here, the same kind of jobs with the same kind of profiles. But at the same time they are so diverse with their different national backgrounds. It is sociologically interesting to observe this".

In real life, Yacine works as a coach, training young professionals in public speaking. About a year ago he had the idea to create a series based on his experiences in the Eurobubble. After seeing various expat bubbles while working as a French diplomat in Africa, the United States and Latin America, he became fascinated by "the most impressive bubble" he had experienced so far. “We live in a city within the city” says Yacine. Indeed, the Eurobubble is a parallel society within Brussels. Its members speak a language almost incomprehensible to outsiders – full of abbreviations, technical terms and outrageous distortions of the English language. And they have a rather troubled relationship to Belgium and the Belgians.

The series introduces us to the different 'castes' of the Eurobubble - from the unpaid intern at a random consultancy to the honourable Member of the European Parliament. The protagonist ranges somewhere in the middle of this pecking order. In the first episode, he comes to Brussels to find work. He applies for various jobs with meaningless and exchangeable job titles (project officer, programme manager or policy coordinator) at companies with meaningless and exchangeable names (ECCF, EEB or F&P). After convincing the boss of the EOOA - the 'European Olive Oil Association' - of how important olive oil has always been to him, he gets a job as a policy offer and becomes part of the Eurobubble.

The series follows the policy officer and his colleagues into their professional and social lives. We see them desperately trying to attract attention at conferences. We join them to salsa parties where South European dancing instructors outperform them. We observe unpaid interns stealing sandwiches at receptions. We join the policy officer in his team meetings where he and his colleagues discuss the 'Olive Oil 2020' strategy and politely laugh at their boss's bad jokes. We follow him to Place du Luxembourg where newcomers, particularly interns, mingle every Thursday to participate in the most cherished activity in Brussels: networking.

You do not socialise in the Eurobubble, you network. Everyone desperately tries to get rid of their business cards, preferably in exchange for those of important people. As Yacine writes on his blog, you only start to exist in the Eurobubble once you have your own business cards. In order to get established in Brussels, being there is crucial in order to find out about vacancies and to meet potential employers. Newcomers to the bubble are willing to take on various un- or underpaid internships in order to be part of the whole circus. If you really want to stay for good, you should be willing to invest up to one year. If you are lucky you get a fixed, yet in most cases still underpaid job. For instance, as a policy officer who defends the interests of the European olive oil industry. From there you might gradually advance and if you successfully compete with around 15,000 applicants you might even become one of the 50 lucky ones annually recruited to become entry level officials in the hallowed halls of European politics: at the Commission.

Although the Eurobubble series deals with life in political Brussels, it is not primarily a political series. The institutions and their employees only play a minor role; the series rather describes the professionals in public affairs, lobbying and research. It aims to tell stories about the challenges and situations all young professionals experience, particularly those living in a bubble. And to some extent nearly everyone is. As Yacine puts it: "If you work in a foreign country, you are in the expat bubble. If you work at L'Oreal you are in the L'Oreal bubble. We all play a social game, and this is the way we play it in Brussels”.  

The series is aimed at audiences from both inside and outside the Eurobubble. "The challenge was to create a script that does not only include insider jokes but rather to develop some characters and situations between these characters that can be funny and understandable for anyone." And the concept works. The situations the protagonist encounters – whether at job interviews, meetings or conferences; the people he meets - nerds and achievers, relaxed roommates and careerists - are all familiar to most young professionals. However, viewers watching the first series might miss what they usually associate with Eurocrats: the Commission bureaucracy and the horse-trading in the Council. The scenes from the French-German marriage, the British diva's extravagances and the way the national leaders muddle through the Eurocrisis are indeed made for satire. There is huge potential for a second series…

Was man Kommissionspräsident Junker nicht vorwerfen kann ist Humorlosigkeit. Ich befürchte aber, dass der Twitter-Account @Juncker_JC nicht von ihm selber betrieben wird. Zu böse sind die Witze, zu bissig die Anmerkungen über die Arbeit der Kommission. Trotzdem immer ein Spaß es zu lesen.