It was nothing special, just a run-of-the mill encounter at a Brussels Bubble reception. As she introduced me to the EU representative of an international organisation, a friend mentioned that I was a European "expert" on EU stuff.
There was a quick exchange of name cards. The woman looked at my name and then at me. She was clearly puzzled for a bit, but then had a 'Eureka!' moment.
"Ah, I see you are from somewhere over there!" she said. "So is it Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, ma...
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Shada Islam is an independent EU analyst and commentator who runs her own strategy and advisory company New Horizons Project. She is also the editor of the EUobserver magazine.