Berlaymont Building
The Berlaymont is an office building in Brussels, Belgium, which houses the headquarters of the European Commission, one of the institutions of the European Union (EU). The structure is located at the Schuman roundabout at 200 Rue de la Loi, in what is known as the "European quarter". Built in the 1960s, the building was the first complex to be built for the European Community.
The Commission Chairman occupies the largest office, near the Commission meeting room at the top (13th floor). Although the main Commission building, it houses only 2,000 of the &&&&&&&&&&020000.&&&&&020,000 Commission officials based in Brussels. In addition to the Commissioners and their offices, the Berlaymont building also houses the General Secretariat of the Legal Service.
Throughout the European Quarter, the Commission occupies 865,000 m² spread over 61 buildings with the Berlaymont and Charlemagne buildings being the only ones larger than 50,000 m². Due to the addition of 12 new members in 2004 and 2007 the staff has increased, expanding up to 35,000 m² office space.
Originally the construction included asbestos. The building was renovated in the 1990s to remove this material and renovate the construction in order to cope with the enlargement of the European Union. After a period of exile in the Breydel building, the Commission reoccupied the Berlaymont building in 2005, buying it for €552 million.
History
The building was built during the 1960s to house the headquarters of the European Commission. The Belgian state wanted to house the building as close as possible to the city center, so they bought a two-hectare piece of land at the end of Rue de la Loi (literally, Street of the Law). This property belonged to the convent of the Dames du Berlaymont, from which it receives its current name.
The building designed by the architect Lucien de Vestel was built on this land, on the basis of a cross with unequal sides, whose constructed area amounts to 240,000 m² spread over 16 levels, designed to house more than 3,000 employees. The first tenants arrived in 1967, but they all had to vacate the building in 1991, as the building contained asbestos, a toxic substance.
It was renovated under the direction of architect Pierre Lallemand and has hosted the Commission again since 2004. The Belgian state, which owned the property, sold it to the European Union for €552 million.
Use
The building has housed the European Commission since its construction, and has become a symbol of the Commission (its name becoming a metonym for the Commission) and the European presence in Brussels. The Commission itself extends over some 60 buildings, but the Berlaymont is the headquarters of the institution, as it is the seat of the President of the European Commission and its College of Commissioners.
The following Directorates General (departments) are also based in the Berlaymont building: Human Resources and Security (AR), the Office of European Policy Advisers (BEPA), Communication (COMM), Brussels Office for Infrastructure and Logistics (OIB), General Secretariat (SG) and the Legal Service (SJ).
The President's office and the Commission's boardroom are on the 13th floor (occupied by the President in defiance of the superstition surrounding the number), along with the Hebdo meeting room i> and the La Convivialité restaurant.
Location
The Rue de la Loi (in French) or Wetstraat (in Dutch) is an important street in central and eastern Brussels, Belgium, famous for the presence of several important government buildings (both Belgium and the European Union). The street, whose name is Spanish Street of the Law, runs from Rue Royale/Koningsstraat ( ), in the center of Brussels, to the roundabout Schuman (), in the European neighborhood. It forms the first part (most western) of the N3 motorway, which reaches Aachen, Germany.
The term Rue de la Loi or Wetstraat is often used in the Belgian media as a meth of the government because not only the Federal Parliament of Belgium is at the beginning of the street, but also the office of the prime minister in number 16. At its end is the Berlaymont Building at the Schuman roundabout and the Cincuentenario Park behind it. Shortly before the roundabout, the central part of the street enters the Belliard Tunnel (the continuation of the N3) motorway that passes below the roundabout and the Cincuentenario Park.The European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is one of the seven European Union institutions. It undermines executive power and legislative initiative. It is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing community decisions, defending the Union ' s treaties and in general deals with the Union ' s daily affairs. It operates independently the national governments and represents and defends the interests of the Union. It has its headquarters in the city of Brussels, Belgium. The current president of the Commission is Ursula von der Leyen.
The Commission acts as a "Government of Europe", and consists of twenty-seven members called Commissioners. There is a representative for each member State, but members are obliged to represent the interests of the EU as a whole. One member is the chairman of the Commission, which is selected by the European Parliament from a candidate proposed by the European Council. The other twenty-six members of the Commission are proposed by the Council of the European Union and the President-elect, who must agree to send a Commission proposal to the European Parliament, where the whole is put to a final vote.
The term “Commission” may designate two realities not strictly identical. Thus, it may refer, on the one hand, to the group of members that make up it in a strict sense, and that, made up of a College of Commissioners, they are the formal depositaries of their powers; on the other hand, to the administrative group that assists them, and that includes an executive office composed of more than 38,000 officials. This article will preferably use the term in the first institutional sense, without prejudice to referring to the activity of the administration it directs and in which it is maintained.
The current Von der Leyen Commission took office on December 1, 2019, happening to the Juncker Commission.Contenido relacionado
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