This is Bull crap. How arrogant. Barack Obamas first visit to Brussels to cost Belgium more than €10m Obama will arrive with 900-strong entourage, including 45 vehicles and three planes, and attend EU and Nato summits Belgium is mobilising 350 police and military on motorbikes to secure the president’s routes to EU and Nato summits. Photograph: Hollandse Hoogte/Rexsi Leo Cendrowicz in Brussels Monday 24 March 2014 16.18 EDT As Belgiums capital and host to the EU and Nato, Brussels is used to deploying heavy security when big names pop by. But US President Barack Obamas visit on Tuesday will strain the city like never before with €10m ($10.4m, £8.4m) of Belgian money being spent to cover his 24 hours in the country. The president will arrive on Tuesday night with a 900-strong entourage, including 45 vehicles and three cargo planes. Advance security teams orchestrating every last detail have combed Brussels already, checking the sewers and the major hospitals, while American military helicopters were last week given the green light for overflights. The city hosts at least four EU summits a year, with each of these gatherings costing €500,000 in extra police, military and transport expenses. But this time round, you can multiply that figure by 20, said Brussels mayor, Yvan Mayeur. Advertisement The citys four-stage security scale will be raised from two to three during the visit, Obamas first to the country. A tight cordon will surround The Hotel, the 27-storey former Hilton in the Toison dOr shopping district where the president will spend the night. Belgium itself is mobilising 350 police and military on motorbikes to secure the presidents routes to EU and Nato summits on Wednesday, while a convoy of nine US helicopters will take Obama to an American first world war cemetery. After landing at Wevelgem aerodrome, a phalanx of 30 armoured cars will take Obama to the cemetery where – accompanied by Belgiums King Philippe and Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo – he will tour the battlefield and lay a wreath. Obama will return to Brussels for a lunchtime summit with the European Council president, Herman Van Rompuy, and the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso. He will then go to Natos headquaters for a meeting with its secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 00:51:15 +0000
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