Public land sale enrages Belgium’s EU partners

Date: 16/01/1997

By Rory Watson

THE Belgian government has angered its EU partners by selling publicly owned land earmarked as the site for a long-planned extension to the Council of Ministers' Brussels headquarters to a private property developer.

Union governments only learned of the sale weeks after it took place late last year, although they had kept the Belgian authorities informed since 1994 of their intention to build an extension on the site.

Even before the Council of Ministers moved into the 400-million-ecu Justus Lipsius building in early 1995, it had become clear that the premises originally designed for 12 member states would be inadequate to cope with existing demand, let alone with any further enlargement of the Union.

Union diplomats closely following events now fear the cost of extending the prestigious Justus Lipsius building could escalate if the asking price for the land rises significantly above the 2 million ecu for which it was sold in November.

The Belgian authorities have so far refused to reveal the identity of the land's new owner, but it is understood to be the Belgian firm Immobel, a subsidiary of Tractebel which was and remains closely involved in the construction of the Council's headquarters.

There have already been demands for an inquiry into the decisions behind the construction and design of the present building. Critics now want the investigation to be widened to take in the latest land sale.

In particular, they want to establish why EU deputy ambassadors, who have been involved in the development of the extension project, were not kept informed by the Council's own secretariat and why no direct contact was made with the Belgian ministry handling the sale to look for a possible solution.

An internal Council memo, dated 28 October, on the outcome of the previous month's meeting of officials reviewing progress on various construction projects, made no mention of the sale scheduled to take place on 5 November.

EU diplomats insist it would have been an easy matter for the Council itself to have allocated 2 million ecu from the Union's budget to purchase the plot for the required extension, if it had been kept informed of events.

“There was a flaming row when EU deputy ambassadors found out about it shortly before Christmas. It is clear the Council of Ministers' secretariat did not inform member states before the sale and then only did so under pressure,” said one senior official.

The Belgian government announced in February 1996 that the land was part of a package of national assets to be sold later in the year, to reduce its public debt in the run-up to economic and monetary union.

An internal Council report of 4 December suggested the decision ran counter to earlier pledges. When the Belgian government first offered land to the Council in 1975, it included the whole of the current Justus Lipsius site and the controversial plot.

More recently, in 1992, a special planning scheme established by the city of Brussels designated the land for the extension of the current Council headquarters.

EU governments commissioned a feasibility study in 1995 and obtained the necessary planning and environment certificates for the land in April last year.

They are now belatedly pursuing the matter with the Belgian authorities. But their hopes that the purchase might not have been fully completed were dashed this week.

A Belgian official involved in the operation confirmed: “The land has been sold. The deal has been done.”