There is a bit of a myth about how Brussels was made the de facto capital city of the European Union. Post-establishment of the European Economic Community, its member states could not reach a consensus on who should host its institutions. Then, in 1958, a meeting in Paris between the then-six member states concluded that the institution would be chaired in turns in alphabetical order. Coincidentally, based on this agreement, Belgium was first. As the year followed, Brussels realized that it was ever expanding to accommodate many of the organization’s growing list of bodies. At the same time, member states were still unable to decide which city should serve as the permanent host, voila — Brussels remained the host up to this day. While some might take this story with a grain of salt, for the believers, the tale of the EU’s capital is intriguing. Brussels rec...

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