What will I do after the European Parliament elections 2009?

One fifth of all articles written in this blog over the last eleven months have been dedicated to the European Parliament election 2009.

Inevitably, the special category created for this purpose will come to an end pretty soon.

Then, I will have to find another continuous story I can cover, because it was probably the most interesting thing to follow such a story - it was like swimming down a river, knowing that at some point you would reach the sea. Or like being a piece of litter on its journey to the dump, now hoping to be recycled instead of being burned.

If I could, I would like to follow a group of completely new MEPs, women and men moving from the member states into Brussels, from different ages and political backgrounds, and to see how they become Members of the European Parliament, how they become part of the institutions, how they integrate into the existing structures, and how they get socialised into what some think is evil and others think is the best that has ever evolved on the European continent.

It's a pretty improbable idea, because I don't think I would find such a group. I even have doubts that there would be any MEP ready to let a blogger get more than a short look into her/his life as an MEP. Because I'd be interested in much more than just analysing press releases. Maybe I should directly go for a group of new EU Commissioners...

Nevertheless, I think about moving to Brussels in early Spring 2010 to do some research. I am still not sure whether I will have the finances to support living there continuously, but I will probably know over the next months.

If this will happen, this might ease some of this blogging because I would be able to work more with first-hand information and to create a series of articles that evolves from the direct "touch" to the scene. But it could also spoil the more personal and pan-European approach of a blog now written from an informed outsider perspective (since I have never lived in Brussels or worked directly in the institutions).

In any case, I want to find a new post-election theme that will replace the "European Parliament elections 2009" series, no matter where I live or what I do.

So if any of you has an idea, I'd be ready to listen.