Brussels's European Quarter

Philippe Van Parijs is a philosopher and a Brusseler. He teaches at the Universities of Louvain and Leuven. PVP’s COLUMN BRUSSELS’s 1. The birthplace of the EUROPEAN Treaty of Rome Val-Duchesse, July 1956 – February 1957 Signed in March 1957, the Treaty of Rome created QUARTER the European Economic Community, the ancestor of the European Union. It was devised by a task force consisting of delegates from the six future WHY IN BRUSSELS? member states, headed by Belgium’s foreign minister Paul-Henri Spaak. The task force met in the castle of Val Duchesse, in the Brussels suburb of WHY IN THIS Auderghem. In this sense, the European Econom- ic Community was conceived in Brussels. But this NEIGHBOURHOOD? does not explain why it settled here. oth visitors and locals may sometimes wonder why Brus- sels became the political capital of the European Union. They may also wonder why the European institutions landed in an area that did not exactly seem predisposed Bfor such a massive invasion. A new poster exhibit on platform 2 of Schuman Station will at- tempt to address this sort of perplexity. People waiting for a train, delayed or not, will have the opportunity to discover the Europe- an Quarter before Europe and learn about the crucial episodes that made it what it has become today. In the process, they may understand why the quarter looks so chaot- ic. Little could be planned as long as no one knew what sort of thing the “Communities” were going to become and where they would end up locating their seats. It took a long time before this became known — to the extent that it is even today. The result is what we see. 2. The first meeting of the Council of Ministers It has not been easy to tell this complex story in a compact, intel- ligible and legible way. It would have been impossible if three or Palais des Académies, Brussels, four languages had been used. The choice was made for English 25 January 1958 only, but simple enough for most visitors and locals to be able to understand it easily. According to the Treaty of Rome, the foreign ministers of the six member states had to hold Like the poster exhibit on the fence around the Berlaymont build- the presidency of the newly created European ing, this is an initiative of the European Quarter Fund, this time Economic Community in turn, one semester at in collaboration with the Belgian railway company NMBS/SNCB. a time, in alphabetical order. As Belgium starts The European Quarter Fund is financed by real estate own- with the letter B, the first meeting of the Coun- cil of Ministers was held in Brussels and its first ers present in the European Quarter and is hosted by the King president was Victor Larock, who had replaced Baudouin Foundation. It endeavours to improve both the reality Paul-Henri Spaak as Belgium’s foreign minister and the image of Brussels’ European Quarter. in May 1957, when the latter became secretary general of NATO. The Fund is indebted to Thierry Demey, Christian Dekeyser and Philippe Samyn for providing some of the pictures, and kindly gave The Brussels Times permission to publish a preview of the exhibit. The content of all texts are my sole responsibility. THE BRUSSELS TIMES MAGAZINE | 77 3. The time of the crucial decision 4. The first headquarters of the Honorary degree ceremony, European Economic Community University of Louvain, 10 January 1958 Avenue de la Joyeuse Entrée 23-27, Ten days after the European Economic Commu- from July 1958 nity was supposed to start functioning, Konrad In February 1958, the Belgian government was Adenauer and Robert Schuman were awarded semi-officially authorized to provide provision- honorary doctorates for their role in its creation. al office space for the first employees of the Eu- But at their meeting in Paris three days earlier, the foreign ministers of the six member states ropean Economic Community. An office block had failed to agree on the location of its head- happened to be nearing completion close to quarters. The pensive man to the far left of the the Parc du Cinquantenaire. The government picture is Victor Larock. As Belgium’s foreign min- decided to rent it from the owners, the Royale ister and therefore first president of the Coun- Belge insurance company, later absorbed by cil of Ministers, he was the person in charge of AXA. The whole staff of the European Econom- urgently finding a place where the first fonction- ic Community moved to the new building in the naires could start working. summer of 1958. 5. The first headquarters of Euratom 6. What used to be a cosy Rue Belliard 51-53, neighbourhood from February 1958 From deadlock to European quarter While waiting for the completion of the office build- It quickly became clear that the deadlock about ing on Avenue de la Joyeuse Entrée, the Belgian the choice of permanent headquarters for the government put the former building of its Ministry European institutions was likely to continue for a for Economic Affairs at the disposal of the Europe- long time, and also that the buildings on Belliard an Economic Community (the “Marché commun”, and Joyeuse Entrée would soon prove insuffi- as it was known to the locals) and the European cient. The Belgian government therefore started Atomic Energy Community (or, for short, Euratom), looking into further options nearby, around the created at the same time. This building, which is still “rond-point de la rue de la Loi”, in an attractive standing, remained the headquarters of Euratom neighbourhood developed from 1837 onwards by until the merger of the commissions of both Com- the “Société civile pour l’agrandissement et l’em- munities with the High Authority of the Coal and bellissement de la capitale de la Belgique”. Which Steel Community (until then in Luxembourg) into a explains why this part of the rue de la Loi was single European Commission in 1967. called “rue de la Société civile”. 78 | THE BRUSSELS TIMES MAGAZINE 7. A convent in the countryside 8. An irresistible garden Origin of the name “Berlaymont” How to find space without In 1627, a nuns convent was founded near Brus- destroying too much sels’ cathedral and what is now the Boulevard In its quest for additional space in the vicini- de Berlaymont, in a mansion donated by the ty of the offices provisionally provided to the family of Charles de Berlaymont, mainly re- European Economic Community, the Belgian membered for his words to Margaret of Parma, government did not take long to express in- the regent of the Low Countries, in 1566, when terest in the convent of the Dames de Berlay- a delegation of the Brussels nobility was pro- mont. The convent, which also functioned as a testing against the Inquisition: “N’écoutez pas, boarding school for girls from well-off families, Madame, ce ne sont que des gueux [beggars].” had a large garden extending all the way to rue In 1864, the convent of the Dames de Berlay- Stévin. Acquiring the convent would therefore mont moved to the top far end of the rue de la make it possible to get hold of a site conven- Loi, still quite rural at the time. In 1879, a wood- iently located that could accommodate a large en train station was erected next to it, at the building, without it being necessary to pull angle with the Boulevard Charlemagne. down too many houses. 9. the nuns’ block expropriated 10. Building the berlaymont How the king’s wedding nearly At the core of a new wrecked the deal communication hub In December 1958, the Belgian government decided As Brussels was, in theory, only the provisional to expropriate the block consisting of the convent, seat of the European institutions, the Belgian gov- some private houses and a petrol station that had ernment decided to erect a building that could by then replaced the train station. Part of the initial conceivably be allocated to a Belgian ministry if deal offered to the nuns was that they would be giv- the European institutions were ever to leave. The en the state-owned domain of Argenteuil, in Water- star-like structure of the building was inspired loo. However, as a result of the impending wedding by the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The con- of King Baudouin (in December 1960), his father, struction work was combined with the building King Leopold III, had to leave the Palace of Laeken of Brussels’ first metro line, connecting Place de and was offered the use of this domain, where he Brouckère and Rond-Point Schuman, and of car spent the rest of his life. To rescue the deal, an alter- tunnels connecting the car park under the Ber- native solution was found, also in Argenteuil, where laymont with the rue Belliard on one side and the the Berlaymont school is still located today. motorway to Liège on the other. THE BRUSSELS TIMES MAGAZINE | 79 11. the old berlaymont 12. Contagion around the berlaymont Birth of an icon Anarchic development for provisional headquarters The building of the Berlaymont started in 1963. Part of it was completed and occupied by the Eu- While the Berlaymont was under construction, ropean Commission in 1967, and the rest in 1969. other buildings were being erected nearby by Around 3000 civil servants in total were based private developers, in the hope of renting them there. Because asbestos was used for the insu- out to the European institutions. Among them, lation of the building, it was decided in 1991 that the Charlemagne, which was actually completed thorough renovation was necessary.

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