New press centre project awaits Commission approval

Date: 18/06/1998

By Rory Watson

THE fate of plans for a new international press centre in Brussels will be decided in the next few weeks.

After marshalling the support of Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, the EU's Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, the Association de la Presse Internationale (API) now has only the European Commission left to convince.

While the Commission, which along with the Belgian government would be one of the main financiers of the project, has always been supportive of the idea, it has recently become noticeably less enthusiastic.

Its message is that it would help fund a badly needed new international press centre provided this was genuinely useful to journalists.

The API project now on the table foresees a press centre made up of three rooms with between 30 and 60 seats suitable for hosting press conferences, a work area, an interview room and administrative offices.

The Commission argues that the one-and-a-half floors of office space already identified by API as being suitable for a modest press centre should be reduced to just a single floor. But API insists that this would give the press centre no chance of succeeding, and will press its case at a meeting with the Belgian and EU authorities tomorrow (19 June).

It points out that the lack of suitable facilities in Brussels is forcing many organisations to hold press conferences in local hotels, at a far higher cost.

If they could be persuaded to use the press centre, API calculates that the 45,000 ecu it currently receives for renting out rooms could rise to 77,500 ecu.

API insists that a new international press centre in the EU capital is vital for the many organisations, associations, pressure groups and even third country governments seeking to put across their views. It also argues that its value cannot be calculated solely in money terms. "The only valid project is the one being put forward by API. If it is not adopted, there will be no press centre next year," warned its president Jean Burner.

Whatever happens, the International Press Club is certain to leave the current International Press Centre at the end of the year, taking the IPC name with it.