City bids to shape EU’s presence

While questions about Brussels as capital of a country called Belgium continue to simmer, less high-profile work is under way to boost Brussels as the capital of Europe.

Belgium’s political crisis was clearly in the thoughts of Charles Picqué, the minister-president of Brussels, when he presented the plan de développement international (PDI) to the Brussels regional parliament two weeks ago (17 October). Referring to "the uncertain political climate at the national level", the minister-president said that his plan was "indispensable to promote the international character of Brussels".

The Belgian media focused on his announcement that Schaerbeek was the best place for a stadium for Brussels, a venue that is intended to be ready "well before" 2018 to allow Belgium to join the race to host the World Cup. There is land close to Schaerbeek station that is ripe for development - the railway sidings and marshalling yards - which has the advantage that it is effectively owned by the federal government.

But the PDI also has implications for the European quarter, underlining the intentions of the city authorities to break up the European ‘ghetto’ by dispersing EU offices around Brussels. The PDI repeated the theme of the European Commission’s building policy that was published jointly with Piqué’s office in September. The current European quarter will remain the hub of ‘EU Brussels’, but a sizeable number of staff will be shipped out to new sites across the city. The European Commission will relinquish 230,000 square metres of offices (out of a current total of 865,000 square metres) to make way for shops and housing. The Commission is investigating up to three locations.

Both Schaerbeek and Evere have stepped forward and said they would like to host the European institutions. Their case will be boosted by a new RER [suburban railway] link between Schuman station and Josaphat that is expected to be ready by 2013. However, so far the Commission has held its cards close to its chest. It has not decided which area(s) it favours and which staff will be moving and is reluctant to express any preference. Commission sources say that Siim Kallas, the European commissioner for administration, is being "intentionally vague" to stop developers hiking up the prices. After all, one of the main aims of the Commission’s building policy is to bring down high rents in the European quarter.

This leaves the EU’s civil servants in some uncertainty. A host of Commission departments (enlargement, foreign affairs, trade, agriculture, competition, EuropeAid, are housed on or next to the rue de la Loi, the prime area for new shops and flats earmarked by Picqué to bring life into this soulless concrete monoculture. But it is not known yet whether these departments will move outside the European quarter or go elsewhere within the European district. A lot of staff are unenthusiastic about the prospect of leaving the European quarter. An internal Commission survey conducted at the beginning of this year found that staff "overwhelmingly want to work in the European quarter".

Because of their different needs and smaller numbers, Europe’s other institutions are not planning to disperse.

The European Parliament is in the process of completing the (strikingly named) D4 and D5 buildings. D4 is already in use, while D5, an audio-visual centre, will be open by autumn 2008. Sources at the Parliament say that this should give them enough space for the next 10-15 years and no big projects are on the horizon. The Council of Ministers appears to prefer to colonise new space in the European quarter rather than spread out. At the end of this year the transfer of Council staff into the LEX building on rue de la Loi will be complete. The Council also plans to take over and revamp a part of the Résidence Palace, next to Justus Lipsius, from 2013.

Another interesting space to watch in Picqué’s plans will be attempts to create a new symbol of Europe within the European Quarter. The PDI states that the city authorities would like to see a ‘Maison de l‘Europe’, a building intended to be an emblem of Europe, affirm Brussels as the capital of Europe and bring Europe closer to the citizen. Picqué will find a supporter in José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, who earlier this year lamented that there was no "space reflecting the history of the European project"

The problem is no one is exactly sure what this stirring architectural embodiment of Europe should actually be for, nor who would pay for it. It is not a priority for Kallas’s department, but the European Parliament appears to have plans for the Eastman Building next to Parc Leopold. Hans-Gert Pöttering, the president of the Parliament, has ambitions to establish a ‘House of Contemporary European History’, but they are not shared by all MEPs.

One truth about building Europe is that the visions may be grand, but the pace of development can be snail-like. The EU’s usual creeping pace is slowed further by the (necessary) fact that it must work with the Brussels Capital Region, the city communes and the federal government. To misquote an old saying, Europe will not be built in a day.

• Jennifer Rankin is a freelance journalist based in Brussels.

While questions about Brussels as capital of a country called Belgium continue to simmer, less high-profile work is under way to boost Brussels as the capital of Europe.