A farmer caused an international stir when he unceremoniously moved a landmark.
Even the mayors were interviewed.
Erquelinnes / Bousignies-sur-Roc - What doesn't fit is made to fit.
A guiding principle that often applies to manual work.
Disruptive factors are removed so that work can function smoothly.
It is important to consider what can happen if you do the wrong things for the right purpose.
A Belgian farmer probably hadn't thought of making headlines across Europe when he got into his tractor.
The otherwise rather unspectacular work ensured that even the mayor commented on French television.
Border stone between Belgium and France: Mayor was "happy"
What happened?
A border stone between the Belgian border village of Erquellines and Bousignies-sur-Roc, in northeastern France, blocked the farmer's path with his tractor.
A disruptive factor for the farmer that he simply pushed aside.
But by doing so, he redrawn the national borders.
About two meters less France, but more Belgium.
"He made Belgium bigger and France smaller, that's not a good idea," joked the mayor of the Belgian village of Erquelinnes David Lavaux, according to the British
BBC
on the French broadcaster
TF1
.
“I was happy that my village was now bigger, but the mayoress of Bousignies-sur-Roc wasn't,” Lavaux added with a smile.
Not only the British
BBC
or the French as well as Belgian television, but also in Switzerland, Turkey and the Netherlands, the campaign made the rounds.
Border stone between Belgium and France: "Should avoid border war"
Since the stone has been there since 1819, the mayoress Aurélie Welonek of the “downsized” French town said with a grin to
La Voix du Nord
: “We should avoid a new border war”.
The official closure of the border goes back to the Kortrijk Treaty of 1820.
Five years after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo.
Curiously, after the boundary stone was moved, according to the BBC, a history lover went for a walk and discovered the stone.
The farmer is urged by his mayor Lavaux to return the stone to its original position or he faces legal consequences.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, which borders both Belgium and France, news of a rabbit plague was currently making the rounds.
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