In Bruges, Elite EU School Rises Above Populist Tide

Bruges, Belgium, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd May, 2019 ) :In Bruges, the prestigious College of Europe is scattered across the city's medieval centre, the Venice of the north, and the winds of populism blowing through Europe seem remote.

Canals and ancient alleyways sew together the patchwork of buildings that make up the postgraduate school, founded in 1949 to forge a bureaucratic elite committed to peace as post-war Europe lay in rubble.

But, as 400 million Europeans are called to this week's EU elections, wars are distant memories and the idea that a benevolent elite can guide the continent has soured, challenging the school's founding principle.

From yellow vest protests in France to Viktor Orban's increasingly autocratic rule in Hungary, anti-EU populists across the continent point to Brussels -- and to the graduates of Bruges -- as a plague on Europe rather than its saviour.