I've been living in Brussels for a few years now, and during this time met quite some people in the EU bubble.
The majority of them seem to come from the same regions, studied at the same universities, move through the same internships and institutions, go to the same spots for holidays, hang out and party at the same places (Plux), and the most shocking one is, almost exclusively, date and marry other members of the EU bubble.
Talking with them, I start to notice more and more of those patterns. They clearly don’t come from humble backgrounds, and many seem pretty disconnected from the average reality of the countries they come from
So my question is: at what point does a professional elite become something closer to an elite caste or even a new aristocracy? Am I overreacting to a normal professional bubble, or is Brussels genuinely helping create a socially closed ruling class at the EU level?