Prendre un verre chez son voisin

Having a drink at your neighbour's The Brussels mayor and the mayor of Paris together to announce the Immeubles en fête operation of 27 May BRUSSELS — French melodies played by two guitarists, wine or water and a cool breeze to keep us waiting. For expected on a terrace of place Saint-Géry are the mayor of the City of Brussels, Freddy Thielemans, the chairman of the Parti socialiste Elio Di Rupo and, as guest star, the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë. It is 6.30 pm when the three figures arrive from rue Van Praet, smiling and, for one of them, in the middle of an election campaign. None of them is there to talk about the ballot but about the Immeubles en fête operation, which will take place on 27 May across the whole Brussels region. The principle is simple: "I invite my neighbours for a drink at home," explains Atanase Périfan, initiator of the project born in Paris in 1999. Here, the same was done, and the mayor of Paris came round as a neighbour for a drink with his Brussels counterpart. "In 1999, 500,000 Parisians invited each other," recalls Mr Périfan. "Last year we had 126 town halls all over France taking part. This year we should count more than 3 million people, since 27 May is a European day." For the first time, then, Brussels buildings will turn into meeting places, as in Barcelona or Athens. "It is not the first time Brussels has borrowed an idea from Paris," admits Mr Thielemans. "There was the Roller parade, the Nuit blanche… But it all comes from the principle that the city must be kept alive." The main strength of this latest initiative: "It helps to overcome conflicts." "The aim is also that people living on the same landing talk to each other and stop scowling," adds Atanase Périfan. For Bertrand Delanoë, it is about reminding inhabitants that "the city is theirs". Time passes and the mayor of Paris still has to open the congress of the Brussels PS federation held at the Madeleine. He is expected at 7.30 pm. But first, a walk. The fame of the first of Parisians is beyond doubt among Brussels residents. Except among those Asian tourists sitting on another terrace on the Grand-Place, who see the socialists arrive followed by a swarm of journalists, cameramen and photographers. A stone's throw from the Madeleine, Bertrand Delanoë will call out to a shopkeeper who comes up to him: "You have a beautiful city!" In the famous hall, impatience grows. Until the first notes of the Marseillaise. It is then understood that the mayor of Paris has made his entrance. And politics resumes its rights… Karim Fadoul Info: www.immeublesenfete.be