Dispute about parking spaces undermines building hand-over

Date: 20/03/1997

By Rory Watson

THE official hand-over to the European Parliament of its prestigious new Brussels headquarters could be delayed by up to six months after a simmering dispute over car parking spaces for the institution's staff flared up this week.

The Parliament's most senior MEPs have refused to take possession of the building from the property developer SA Forum Léopold on 1 April, as originally intended, saying they will not do so until the specifications of the original lease signed in January 1992 have been met.

Under the contract, the company responsible for building the 1.2-billion-ecu parliamentary complex agreed to provide 2,300 parking spaces.

But after a change in Belgian legislation, it received an environment permit from the Belgian authorities last September which allowed for only 900.

The Parliament insisted this week that the full 2,300 spaces should be provided and also complained that the permit made no provision for a staff shop and video projection in a number of rooms as had been agreed in the lease.

Nor is the Parliament's VIP entrance likely to be completed by the original April hand-over date.

“I cannot see this problem being settled by 1 April. It could now take six months and drag on until September,” suggested one parliamentary source.

Explaining the decision to reduce the number of spaces, Minister for the Brussels Region Didier Gosuin told the Parliament's President José María Gil-Robles that to honour the original pledge would “cause hopeless traffic congestion in the neighbouring streets”.

These arguments were rejected by the Parliament's bureau this week after it was advised that if it took over the building it would be liable for any breach of the Belgian legislation.

It was also informed that, given the complex's huge surface area, according to the standards normally applied in Belgium, the institution could have expected permission for the construction of 4,300 parking spaces.

The Parliament is convinced it is on strong legal ground in insisting on the original conditions of the contract being implemented.

It is also confident that it would be entitled to refuse to pay interim interest on the third and final stage of the complex after 1 April and to claim 37,500 ecu per day in late-completion compensation from SA Forum Léopold.