THEY’RE ALL TALKING ABOUT IT
[EDIT: Eijsden, March 30] Liège is busy too and we have suggested ‘Silicon Castle’ for one aspect of its activities. The strange thing is that there are existing local brands that are underused, including: ‘Charlemagne’ meaning Europe, ‘Spa’ meaning wellness and ‘Maastricht’. Maastricht could, of course, be used to refer to Europe as a whole or, at least, to all the good parts, like gastronomy, the countryside and new, university-driven, high-tech business. ‘The treaty’ label could be dropped, for a while. There are many things that could be revived. ‘The Principality’ has its points, as does Dutch gin (Pékèt/Genever), which is hard to get in New York, despite the existence of a museum to promote it in Hasselt. Then come: Limburg cheese (Herve/Rommedou), famous for attracting mosquitoes, white asparagus and syrup (stroop) - now moving from Blegny to Maastricht. There is a new South Limburg site which could add to this; though, at first sight, it looks a bit too anemic.
…Branding , of course. Our last issue reported the emergence of the theme in Bert Wirtz’ maiden speech at the Aachen Chamber. The new boss at Eupen’s Meuse-Rhine HQ, Hans Niessen, thinks ‘Meuse-Rhine’ is a good brand name. It is certainly better than “Euregio” which should be translated as “Euroregion” in English and of which there are some 200+. The first version sounds like a disease of the throat and the second has too many syllables; whereas Meuse-Rhine embraces the northwest of continental Europe, with its Latin and Germanic arms.
SW