[spaceman_2020]

So many of these have some building as the backdrop, but all the buildings are modernist skyscrapers and uninspired office buildings

Europe doesn't have a dearth of stunning architecture. Have they all been discarded in favor of ugly straightline modernist sloptitecture because they might be construed as offensive for some reason?

[ketzu]

> but all the buildings are modernist skyscrapers and uninspired office buildings

Because they are the european institutions, eg the EU parliament building, EU comission, etc.

They are mostly office buildings.

[fph]

This sounds very self-centered. Many people already see the EU bureaucrats as something alien, let's not give them another reason to think they're selfish.

[luplex]

I think it's the other way around. Many people have no idea about how the EU works and what exactly is going on there. I believe highlighting the key institutions through their iconic buildings will raise awareness and increase trust in EU institutions!

And I think that's why it was considered.

[ahartmetz]

Yeah. Bad choice.

[roysting]

I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic; they are as extremely alien, as they are deeply “selfish”, as you put it so generously.

I know many people will see and think of the EU as a positive thing, just like how the colonists of the past rationalized their selfish harm and destruction through things like claiming to bring civilization to the savages; but under all the fluff, all the slick marketing and propaganda lies and manipulation, the indigenous European cultures and people are being destroyed right before our very eyes. Many people cheer it on while decrying how those horrible people of the past could have done the very same thing they support through the EU, only towards their very own people.

Considering the alien and hostile nature of the EU towards actual Europeans and European culture, it does seem most appropriate to have the alien, dystopian, monolithic, uninspired, cold buildings on the currency looking like alien spaceships, as a true representation of what the EU is; an alien bait and switch occupation that is devastating the indigenous people and cultures of Europe just like the ruling class did all over the rest of the planet in previous centuries.

Now the European peoples are getting the racist, narcissistic, supremacist colonization experience…even if in a kind of inverse form…that will and is destroying and devastating the indigenous people and cultures.

What’s amazing is how people cannot see that they are part of the very kind of thing they often decry others having done elsewhere in the past; indigenous European languages and dialects are dying out because they’re being killed off by EU policies by the dozens, cultural practices that are centuries and millennia old are being killed and dying out with them. Europeans don’t even see the thing that is obvious to a self-aware transatlantic person; Europe is being turned into an America. Look at America what it is now … that’s your future, kid. Do you really want to do that, be a devastated, hollow husk of what you once were, what you could have been???

Just look around you; Europe is gearing up to be a war machine, the civilian industrial base is being destroyed, the economies are being financialized, deficits are spreading, unique cultures are being destroyed and turned into corporate Disney versions of themselves! Sounds familiar!

[watwut]

Europe union is overall a good thing. Full stop.

[roysting]

The European Union is not a good thing. Full stop.

Excellent debate. Good arguments made.

You lack the imagination for what the EU could have been, not an institution that imposes itself on the people while screaming “democracy” and “equality” as the abuses continue unabated and the indigenous people and the millennia and century old cultures of Europe are being eradicated and snuffed out. It is being done in far more sophisticated and subtle ways, but like they were in the Americas, in Russia, in China, in Asia in general, etc. it was also done to the Americans who were a prosperous and educated and vibrant people before the 20th century, and now it is what everyone knows it as…… the future face of Europe if this continue.

[ahartmetz]

Nah, we need to criticize what deserves it so that it stays a mostly positive thing.

[watwut]

Except the person I responded to did not done that. Nor the one above him.

There is criticism and there are lies based on ideologicalized hate.

[jillesvangurp]

Brutalist buildings in Brussels. Not a great choice for a continent with 2000+ years of very rich architecture history.

[RamblingCTO]

Also the ECB in frankfurt on the 50€

[sznio]

they could put the ECB on the 500€ since a money factory is a decent image to put on a banknote, and follows the original bridge series theme of ancient-modern.

but find some actually nice buildings to put on the rest

[Towaway69]

Perhaps making the notes as ugly and boring as possible will push folks off physical money onto trackable digital money that is just as soulless as the buildings on the notes.

[like_any_other]

That does not mean they were the only possible choice. Personally, I find having my continent represented by them an extreme insult.

[Bewelge]

Can you elaborate what you mean?

Are you against the idea of European cooperation in general? Or against the implementation?

If there is to be European cooperation that goes beyond heads of states talking to each other, you're going to need some kind of space where they can do that. Using that building as a symbol seems like an obvious choice albeit not a very creative one. Really struggle to see how that choice can be "extremely insulting".

[like_any_other]

> Are you against the idea of European cooperation in general? Or against the implementation?

I'm against ugly soulless buildings. Those buildings can't be a symbol for anything, because they, like all modern [1] buildings, were deliberately designed to remove all identity. They are completely generic, no different from modern buildings in Beijing, New York, or Dubai. The only thing they represent is a capitulation, or refusal, of making things beautiful.

I'd vastly prefer some national landmark of the nation that committed war crimes against us in WWI & II, than that.

[1] Or is it "modernist"? Whatever the "style" of basic geometric shapes in steel and glass is called.

[Bewelge]

Fair enough, you're not a fan of how modern buildings look. But how is that extremely insulting to you?

[crote]

The average European does not view those buildings as symbols of European cooperation. They are just another generic office building some nameless and faceless bureaucrats work in. They lack the symbolism and recognizability of some US buildings like the White House, the Capitol, or the Pentagon - which are all inherently linked to the institutions they host.

A movie showing an external shot of the White House establishes that we're going to be looking at the US President next. A movie showing an external shot of the European Parliament establishes... office drones working in the Business Factory?

[yencabulator]

You're describing American propaganda that Europeans tend to avoid...

[luplex]

this is because people don't even recognize the buildings. Even I only recognized the commission and the ECB. I think if we put them on our money, citizens will recognize them more!

[sznio]

I don't think any of these buildings has the recognizability potential. I could recognize the Commission too since I see it on TV every day, but others are generic offices. The White House has a distinct shape. The Capitol has a distinct shape. The Pentagon absolutely has a distinct shape.

I don't think the ECB will ever be recognizable (or at least won't become recognized via exposure), since it's just a glass tower like thousands of others.

[watwut]

People really take offe se on everything these days.

[qnpnpmqppnp]

An extreme insult, seriously?

It seems pretty neutral, if un-exciting, to see EU institutions displayed on Euro banknotes. It also avoids the obvious pitfall of national landmarks.

[thisisold]

These are the central institutions of the European Union. That’s why there’re portrayed in the notes

[sam_dusk]

There just shouldn’t be any buildings on those notes. Any good choices are too country specific. All of them are out imo only D & F I find actually inspired and good the rest of these designs should go straight into the bin. Stop birds, people, buildings then see what they can come up with. Gotta be better.

[rsynnott]

These are EU government buildings; unlike the bridges in the current notes, they’re real structures, not an archetype. The EU likes a giant office block, generally.

[gillesjacobs]

They asked to put EU buildings on there to grab power and cultural capital. The EU is centralizing and consolidating by any means necessary.

[TitaRusell]

Disclaimer: IDGAF haven't used cash in years

Europe is a continent with countries that have literally centuries of enimity and nationalism between them. You cannot put a French building on a banknote.

Bland and inoffensive is what keeps the Union together. Its why Strasbourg exists. Its why there are Dutch translators despite the fact every Dutch member of parliament speeches in English.

[lrasinen]

I'm in the EU and you absolutely can put a French building on a banknote. I'd much rather look at the Eiffel tower or the Tower of Pisa or Neuschwanstein castle than the European Court of Auditors.

Or if you like to have something modern, Paimio Sanatorium or Turning Torso.

[cm2187]

But that defeats the purpose of having a boring glass building, or birds or modern bridges. The underpinning ideology is that europe should have no history, no culture and no identity, because suggesting anything else 1) will offend the hyper sensitivity of modern left ideologues who think that the said culture, history and identity is terrible and should only be condemned, apologised for, and buried, and 2) would be unwelcoming to immigrants as it would suggest somehow that there is a society they should adapt to rather than the other way round.

I remember a major French pro-european politician (Modem party) attempting to define Europe (in the context of integrating Turkey), as "the friends of democracy". When you can't (or rather refuse to) define your identity, the only thing left to represent it is birds, office buildings and bridges. Notre Damme de Paris or the Pantheon in Rome are just old embarrassing historical artefacts of an evil civilisation.

[sznio]

I as a random Pole with a lefty euroenthusiast stance would gladly accept the Pantheon or Notre Damme. I'd prefer Colosseum and Eiffel tower though.

The blandness comes from the fact that the EU has to tiptoe around the nationalists which will be upset that a country they don't like gets a banknote, and possibly even worse - they didn't get one.

Reading back both your and my post I guess it's the radicals of either stance who the EU desperately needs to cater to, resulting in generic designs. It's erasing itself like any institution with a 1-member veto.[1]

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberum_veto

[CrisMystik]

The underpinning ideology is that Europe (meaning the EU) should have no history, no culture and no identity because they are monopoly of the member States/nations. And, as always, if you put a monument or person from some country in the banknotes, the other states will complain

[inigyou]

no one feels unwelcomed by the Eiffel tower

[crote]

Tell that to a victim of French colonialism, or to the Germans.

[luplex]

what, Germans love the Eiffel tower

[tialaramex]

I don't know that it's about "Bland and inoffensive" so much as about recognition that differences are fine. Two football teams don't agree about which team is best - but they do agree the rules of football. Without that there is no game.

Having multiple languages is more of that "differences are fine". The use of Directives rather than Regulations for many purposes allows a country's government to incorporate local differences in how we do things. A Regulation applies everywhere, but the Directive just tells your government to make local law to meet some goal. What we want to achieve is the same in Paris and San Gimignano but how we do it will vary by local culture.

[juliangmp]

I get that we wouldn't want to single out specific nations over others on the designs. But I kinda wish we would national designs like we do for the coins, one side's standardized and the other gets a custom design depending on the nation. I think we'd get a lot very neat variety, but I understand that it makes things a lot more complicated and expensive.

[derdi]

I mean, half of these proposals put specific people from specific countries on banknotes. So it's hard to argue that it would be impossible to do the same with buildings.