The Justus Lipsius building, located in
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, was the headquarters of the
Council of the European Union
The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...
from 1995, and the ''
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
'' home of the
European Council from 2002 (''
de jure
In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally ...
'' as of 2004), until their relocation to the adjacent newly constructed
Europa building at the beginning of 2017. The building, which has a gross surface area of 227,278 m
2, still provides for additional meeting rooms, office space and press facilities for both institutions. It consists of 17 conference rooms with at least 10 interpretation booths each, 5 other meeting rooms and 2 rooms for official meals. It also provides 40,048 m
2 of offices for both institutions' shared
General Secretariat. An onsite press centre is also featured, which can be extended during summits with up to 600 seats in the atrium.
It is linked, via means of two
skyway
A skyway, skybridge, skywalk, or sky walkway is an elevated type of pedway connecting two or more buildings in an urban area, or connecting elevated points within mountainous recreational zones. Urban skyways very often take the form of enclo ...
s and a service tunnel, to the Europa building.
Location
The building is located in the
European Quarter at 175
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat, next to the
Robert Schuman Roundabout
The Robert Schuman Roundabout (french: Rond-point Robert Schuman, nl, Robert Schumanplein), sometimes called Robert Schuman Square, is a roundabout at the end of the Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat in Brussels, Belgium, that serves as a focus for m ...
and opposite the
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 ...
(the headquarters of 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 ...
). To the west is the Europa building. To the south the building borders the
Place Jean Rey/Jean Reyplein and
Leopold Park
Leopold Park (french: Parc Léopold, ; nl, Leopoldspark) is a public park of located within the Leopold Quarter ( European Quarter) of Brussels, Belgium. It is adjacent to the Paul-Henri Spaak building, the seat of the European Parliament. I ...
. The façade bordering the square is being considered for renovation to improve the building's appearance. Transport links to the building include
Schuman station, which provides
metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urb ...
, as well as,
regional
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
, national and international rail services. The station is situated immediately to the north of the Justus Lipsius building.
History
In 1985, in response to an initiative by Belgium, the Council of the EU appointed the
Belgian Federal Government's ''Régie des Bâtiments'' as the contracting authority to construct a new building better suited to its needs. The foundation stone of the new building was laid in 1989. It is situated on land previously owned by the Belgian Government, a site formerly crossed by the Rue Juste Lipse/Justus Lipsiusstraat, a street named in honour of
Justus Lipsius
Justus Lipsius (Joest Lips or Joost Lips; 18 October 1547 – 23 March 1606) was a Flemish Catholic philologist, philosopher, and humanist. Lipsius wrote a series of works designed to revive ancient Stoicism in a form that would be compatible w ...
, a Flemish
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
and
humanist
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "human ...
. The new structure took the name of the demolished street, which had linked the
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat to the
Rue Belliard/Belliardstraat, to become the Justus Lipsius building. Blocs D and E of the former 1920s
Résidence Palace were razed to make way for the construction. The official inauguration took place on 29 May 1995, under the French
Presidency of the Council of the EU. During the construction period, the Council of the EU was housed in the
Charlemagne building
The Charlemagne building is a high-rise in the European Quarter of Brussels, which houses the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, the Directorate-General for Trade and, since 2015, the Internal Audit Service of the Commission ...
located across the street, since renovated and currently in use by the European Commission.
From 2002, the European Council also utilised the Justus Lipsius building as its headquarters. This followed an advanced implementation of an agreement by
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
leaders, during ratification of the
Nice Treaty
The Treaty of Nice was signed by European leaders on 26 February 2001 and came into force on 1 February 2003.
It amended the Maastricht Treaty (or the Treaty on European Union) and the Treaty of Rome (or the Treaty establishing the European C ...
, to do so at such a time as the total
membership of the EU surpassed 18 Member States. Prior to this, summits of the European Council were based in the
EU member state that held the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU. A number of renovations were made to the building to accommodate the increased demands of both institutions and growing EU membership, including the conversion of the building's basement car park into additional meeting rooms. However, at the beginning of 2017 both institutions moved into a new purpose-built seat in the adjacent
Europa building. The Justus Lipsius building is still utilised by both institutions and is linked via two skyways and a service tunnel to the new venue.
See also
*
Espace Léopold
The Espace Léopold (French; commonly used in English) or Leopoldruimte (Dutch; ) is the complex of parliament buildings in Brussels, Belgium, housing the European Parliament, a legislative chamber of the European Union (EU). It consists of a ...
(Brussels seat of the European Parliament)
*
Lex building
The Lex building is a high-rise of government offices in the European Quarter of Brussels, Belgium. It is an annex building of the Council of the European Union (its main building is the Europa building) and is located at Rue de la Loi/Wetstraa ...
*
Brussels and the European Union
Brussels (Belgium) is considered the ''de facto'' capital of the European Union, having a long history of hosting a number of principal EU institutions within its European Quarter. The EU has no official capital but Brussels hosts the offici ...
*
Institutional seats of the European Union
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 capita ...
*
Entropa
''Entropa'' is a sculpture by Czech artist David Černý. The project was commissioned by the Czech government to mark the occasion of its presidency of the Council of the European Union, and was originally designed as a collaboration for 27 art ...
References
External links
European Council and Council of the EU websiteThe Justus Lipsius BuildingBelgium Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Justus Lipsius Building
Buildings and structures in Brussels
Council of the European Union
Buildings and structures of the European Union
European quarter of Brussels
Office buildings in Belgium
Office buildings completed in 1995