The Breydel building is an office block in the European Quarter of

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium, that served as a temporary headquarters for the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

between 1991 and 2004. It is named after Jan Breydel, a legendary

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

leader known from the

Battle of the Golden Spurs The Battle of the Golden Spurs ( nl, Guldensporenslag; french: Bataille des éperons d'or) was a military confrontation between the royal army of France and rebellious forces of the County of Flanders on 11 July 1302 during the Franco-Flemis ...

History

The seat of the

, the symbolic

Berlaymont building The Berlaymont () is an office building in Brussels, Belgium, which houses the headquarters of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The structure is located on the Robert Schuman Roundabout at 200, rue de l ...

, was in dire need of renovation due to the discovery of

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

in its construction. A new building was rapidly needed to house

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

and his college of

Commissioners A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

, as the issue of the

location of European Union institutions The seven institutions of the European Union (EU) are seated in four different cities, which are Brussels ( Belgium), Frankfurt am Main ( Germany), Luxembourg ( Luxembourg) and Strasbourg ( France), rather than being concentrated in a single ...

was being discussed and any delays could lead to the Commission withdrawing from the city. Plans for the building were already being prepared by the bank

BACOB Dexia N.V./S.A., or the Dexia Group, is a Franco-Belgian financial institution formed in 1996. At its peak in 2010, it had about 35,200 members of staff and a core shareholders' equity of €19.2 billion. In 2008, the bank entered severe ...

due to the rapidly expanding needs of the Commission, though the entire block would be needed to house the 1300 civil servants and auxiliary services. Foreseeing this, developers had bought a block of houses each on the area to ensure they all received a slice of the pie when the land was bought up. The main building was ready just in time for the transfer of Commission staff at the end of 1991, and expansion continued through the 1990s. The President and most of the Commission moved back to the Berlaymont when renovation was completed in 2004, however the Commission has bought the building when it moved in (one of the first times it bought a building rather than rented it) and it is still a Commission building today, housing the

Directorate-General for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs The Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) is a Directorate-General of the European Commission. The Enterprise Directorate-General works on creating an environment in which European firms can thrive. ...

and the Directorate-General for Budget. The building was designed by André and Jean Polak, who designed the Berlaymont, together with Marc Vanden Bossche and Johan Van Dessel. It took just 23 months to build.

References

*
List and maps of Commission buildings in Brussels
Office for Infrastructures and Logistics - Brussels (European Commission). Accessed 2008-08-26. {{Eu-directorates-general Buildings and structures in Brussels European Commission European quarter of Brussels Buildings and structures of the European Union Office buildings in Belgium

History

See also

References