Starting next spring, the EU wants to jointly purchase gas and use it to fill storage facilities for the following winter. Gas companies are expected to play a crucial role in the energy platform. “It’s the gas companies that have to make the platform work,” Deputy Director General Matthew Baldwin said this week. The Commission plans to present a first concrete proposal as early as Tuesday. Manuel Berkel investigated which models for EU gas purchasing are under discussion.
It has been four years since the socialist party family met, and now the time has come again: This afternoon, the Congress of the Party of European Socialists (PES) begins in Berlin. On the agenda is the election of a new chair: Sweden’s former Prime Minister Stefan Löfven is to succeed the Bulgarian Sergei Stanishev. However, SPD politician Katarina Barley, who is to become Löfven’s deputy, is taking a particularly important step forward. This gives her an excellent position for the 2024 European elections, as Markus Grabitz and Till Hoppe analyze.
The EU could transfer €1.5 billion a month to Kyiv’s treasury in the future as a result of pressure from the United States. The Commission is currently working on a proposal, with a draft expected on Tuesday. The exact sum is still open, but “structured assistance” for Ukraine is being sought, an EU diplomat said. Eric Bonse reports.
The energy platform is like a miniature EU. Cooperation is good for everyone, but behind the scenes, there is fierce bickering – over influence, ground rules, and finances. Just a few weeks after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the Commission first proposed a joint European platform to secure new, favorable contracts with major gas exporters. But it was not until the past few days that the idea really took hold.
In the summer, the energy ministers of Europe’s major economies swarmed out on gas procurement campaigns. Together, they decided to fill their storage facilities for the winter. But the cost was high, and this cutthroat competition should not be repeated next summer. “We must avoid a scenario in which member states outbid each other and drive up prices,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the Parliament in Strasbourg last week. The issue has seen some movement since then.
Germany allegedly opposed joint gas purchasing for a long time because it wanted to leverage its market power to secure enough energy for its own industry. The concerns were not unfounded. The critical situation should not be further exacerbated by rich Western European countries grabbing all the gas and leaving the most dependent states even more vulnerable, the think tank Bruegel warned in June. Experts see the energy platform not only as a means of price dumping, but also of distributing the purchased gas more evenly between financially stronger and weaker member states.
Then, at the beginning of this week, a non-paper from Germany and the Netherlands began to circulate, in which they gave the go-ahead for joint procurement. But pressure also grew in the meantime, with 17 states supporting a general price cap as the most radical measure, which could threaten all gas trading within the EU. At their informal meeting in Prague on Wednesday, the energy ministers backed the Commission’s call to launch the energy platform by next spring.
The Commission plans to present a first concrete proposal as early as next Tuesday. On this day, the industrial advisory board of the energy platform is also to meet for the first time. The platform is being developed, although it has received little attention so far. At the end of May, the Directorate-General for Energy set up a task force with more than 40 staff by now.
More staff will follow, Deputy Director General Matthew Baldwin said at an event this week. The team will be led by the Acting Director for Energy Policy, Spanish lawyer Cristina Lobillo Borrero. She is assisted by three directors for negotiations and relations with the EU and international countries.
However, gas companies are expected to play a key role. The Commission reportedly considered allowing member states to choose one supplier each to be part of the energy platform via Emergency Article 122, according to a Financial Times report earlier this week. These could then be instructed to procure part of their gas via the joint platform.
“It’s the gas companies that have to make the platform work,” Baldwin says. “The member states aren’t buying gas, and I can definitely say that the Commission won’t be buying gas either.”
On the global LNG market, European suppliers may not be considered to be among the most experienced players, but still, only they have the necessary knowledge: Booking and insuring liquefied natural gas ships or managing regasification terminals, pipelines and storage facilities.
Procurement through the platform could be organized either by an individual buyer on behalf of European utilities or by joint ventures between the companies, said Monika Zsigri, Director of Negotiations, a few weeks ago. The Commission will propose pilot projects to test the financial benefits, she announced at Eurogas.
Bruegel has examined LNG import auctions. One challenge, however, will be to actually secure additional volumes and not simply squeeze out existing European buyers. Deals with the UK, which operates both LNG import terminals and gas pipelines to the EU, may also be necessary.
But joint procurement was intended only as a second step for the energy platform, according to the Commission’s REPowerEU plan in May. One advantage would be bundling demand. To this end, the platform should first collect data on which long-term contracts expire when and which still contain unused options for additional supplies.
The coordination is to be supported by five regional task forces, including two already existing ones. Germany is in a group with eight other countries, including Poland, Croatia and Italy.
However, as Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said in Prague, the platform’s new focus will be on coordinated storage filling next spring and summer, as announced by Ursula von der Leyen. To this end, Bruegel has studied how the German Strategic Storage Based Options (SSBO) model could be replicated across the EU. This would involve a market area manager, such as the German network operators’ Trading Hub Europe (THE), which could auction off storage options and sell the stored gas itself in the event of a crisis.
However, this system would still require different gas prices within Europe and subsequent aid for financially weaker states. In contrast, the Group of 17 around France, Spain, Italy and Poland favors a narrow price corridor for all member states. So there are still a number of issues to be resolved regarding the energy platform at the next European summits.
MEP Katarina Barley (SPD) is moving up in the European Socialist (PES) party family. When the PES elects their new leader this Friday at their congress in Berlin, Barley will become Stefan Löfven’s deputy. The new party leader Löfven is Sweden’s former prime minister.
Barley thus puts herself in an excellent starting position for the 2024 European elections. The women in the PES actually sought a dual leadership in the party, but failed due to resistance from the member parties. The compromise is that the PES board will be doubled from four to eight seats. At the same time, the PES women pushed for the right to appoint a female candidate to the board, regardless of the distribution of posts according to country representation. That candidate is Barley.
Otherwise, Achim Post, a member of the German Bundestag from North Rhine-Westphalia, would probably have had to give up his post as secretary general of the PES. If Barley had not become party deputy thanks to the “women’s ticket,” the accumulation of offices among the German Social Democrats would not have gone through in the party family. In view of the disappointing election results in 2019, an influential German social democrat also urges sharpening the party’s profile: “Just relying on new heads is not enough. The party family must also work on its positions and join forces.”
Leading social democrats criticize the structures at the PES congress, as the party congress is called in the socialist party family. The delegates were not chosen according to the usual rules of inner-party democracy. Rather, the eligible voters at the meeting had been “wildly assembled.” One participant speaks of an “interestingly selected body of delegates.”
Only the chair will be elected at the meeting. The eight deputy positions were previously negotiated between the major European parties and, in case of Barley, were also pushed through by the women of the PES. One attendee described the new leadership not as a party executive committee, but mockingly as a “social democratic supervisory board.”
In the German SPD, Barley is already the number one for Europe. She is the SPD party executive’s representative for Europe. A post that was created for Martin Schulz at the time and is at the same hierarchical level as the vice party leaders. She directs the SPD’s European policy orientation. She heads an informal strategy circle in which six influential social democrats regularly coordinate. Among the members are Ralf Mützenich, Chairman of the parliamentary group, and Jörg Kukies, State Secretary in the chancellor’s office.
Barley, once minister of justice in the socialist-conservative coalition, moved into the Strasbourg Parliament at the top of the list in the 2019 European elections. She is one of 14 vice presidents in the EU Parliament. And she has already been named by party leader Saskia Esken as the top candidate of the German Social Democrats in the next European election in 2024. The announcement caught Jens Geier, who leads the group of 16 German MEPs, and Udo Bullmann, the former group leader in the EU Parliament, completely by surprise.
With the resolution adopted by the PES Congress in Berlin, the PES commits itself to the top candidate rule. This means that, like in 2014 and 2019, it will nominate a European top candidate. The party families intend to impose the top candidate who wins the most votes in the election as the next Commission President.
For four years, the socialist party family had not met because of the pandemic. At the congress in Berlin, soundings have now started to find the next top candidate and thus the face of the PES in the next European elections. The new party leader Löfven and Portugal’s Prime Minister António Costa are currently under consideration. Perhaps Frans Timmermans, who was just stopped before making it to the top floor in the Berlaymont last time, will also give it another try.
The women in the group already have Katarina Barley and Iratxe García Pérez in mind. García Pérez, the leader of the women’s group, is not in good standing with many MEPs. They accuse her of being too much at the mercy of Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s socialist Prime Minister. with Till Hoppe
The EU is preparing to pay direct and permanent budget support to Ukraine. They are to follow the announced US payments of $1.5 billion per month, according to EU circles in Brussels. However, a decision has not yet been made, stresses the EU Commission, which is working hard on a proposal. The Brussels authority’s draft is expected next Tuesday.
The background is the persistent and severe financial gap in the Ukrainian state budget. His country needs $55 billion next year to cover the budget gap and for reconstruction, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said via video link at the IMF meeting of finance ministers in New York on Wednesday. He put the country’s monthly financing needs at between $2 billion and $4 billion.
The more aid Ukraine receives, the faster it can end the war with Russia and begin reconstruction, Zelenskiy said. What is also needed, he said, is a new, permanent format with donor countries modeled on international military aid. It is organized by the US in the so-called Ramstein format and involves 50 countries and organizations.
The US supported Zelenskiy’s demands – and is now putting pressure on the EU. In the future, Brussels could transfer €1.5 billion per month to the treasury in Kyiv, similar to Washington. The exact sum is still open, but “structured aid” for Ukraine is being worked on, said an EU diplomat. Similar comments have been made by the EU Commission, which also does not yet want to specify a definite sum.
It was important to find a way with international partners to support Ukraine beyond 2022 “in a way that ensures predictable and stable financial flows to Ukraine and provides for international burden sharing,” a Commission spokesperson told Europe.Table.
In addition to the amount of the financial aid, there is also a debate about whether it should be granted as loans or as non-repayable grants. In the summer, Germany granted €1 billion as a grant and called on its EU partners to do the same. However, the call went unheard. At the end of September, the finance ministers approved an additional €5 billion in macro-financial assistance. It is granted in the form of long-term loans at particularly favorable conditions.
According to the EU Commission, “Team Europe” already granted Ukraine a total of €19 billion in financial aid by mid-September. There has never been any direct monthly budget support to an EU candidate country at war; this is another reason why the consultations in Brussels have proved difficult.
However, an agreement has already been reached on the issue of an EU training mission for Ukrainian soldiers. In a first step, the EU wants to train around 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers. Alongside Germany, Poland also wants to set up a headquarters. Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, said he expected a decision at the next meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday.
It is that time again: Next week is the plenary sitting in Strasbourg. Among other things, money and buildings will be debated and voted on. In the corridors of the Brussels EP building, the dark green suitcases are already at the ready.
What is it about? About an amendment tabled by MEP Nils Ušakovs from the S&D group. The motion aims to stop the adoption of a proposal to be voted on next week, namely the purchase of the Osmose building for the European Parliament in Strasbourg. France is offering to buy this property for the Parliament. In exchange, the Parliament could ditch the Madariaga building – a frightening maze with ’80s charm that houses the Parliament. The building could be converted into a hotel for the deputies.
For Ušakovs, such a swap would be an unreasonable expense of taxpayers’ money, “especially at a time when European citizens are struggling with rising energy prices and cost of living.” The situation would be relatively simple if the Parliament had only one seat. However, the building that houses the Parliament in Brussels is also in very poor condition. The amendment tabled by Nils Ušakovs calls for “a complete reconsideration of the plans for the future of the Spaak building in Brussels.” Because here, too, the condition of the building requires a decision, and a quick one.
The building, which was opened in 1993 at a cost of €303 million, is said to have leaks, stability problems, and deficiencies in the air conditioning and insulation. In 2012, the building had to be temporarily closed after cracks were discovered in the beams above the plenary hall. There were fears of a repeat of the incident that had occurred four years earlier in the other parliament building in Strasbourg, the very same Madariaga building.
Demolish and rebuild or completely renovate? This question is still open and is pushing its way into the political life of the city of Brussels. After all, the assumption of demolishing a very controversial building, for which an entire residential neighborhood previously had to make way, would possibly further worsen the bad mood in the surrounding area. Moreover, negotiations would have to be held with the Brussels Region and the two city councils concerned (Brussels City and Ixelles), which are now somewhat keener for a less megalomaniac architectural project that better respects the city and its people.
At least the international architectural competition for the redesign has a winner. In the last week of the July session, the international independent jury of the competition informed the President of the EU Parliament, Roberta Metsola, of which architects’ designs made it to the top five and are thus on the shortlist. However, the jury’s decision is still confidential.
Caught up in the debate over the buildings is the never-fully resolved dispute over the location of the headquarters – Brussels or Strasbourg – and the foul compromise that provides for three weeks in the Belgian capital and one week in the French city. This compromise leads to a month-long relocation, the cost of which is estimated at around €160 million per year, according to Nils Ušakovs. The cautious Latvian MEP calls for suspending the back-and-forth between Brussels and Strasbourg “at least” during the energy crisis, “as we did during the pandemic.”
After all, it is well known that France defends its seat in Strasbourg tooth and nail. In parliament, Paris can count in particular on the influence of the French MEPs in the Renew group. Moreover, the election of MEP Fabienne Keller (Renew), former mayor of Strasbourg and former senator of the Bas-Rhin, as quaestor forms an influential French “pro Strasbourg” tandem with her colleague Anne Sander (EPP), who has been first quaestor since 2019.
Starting next spring, the EU wants to jointly purchase gas and use it to fill storage facilities for the following winter. Gas companies are expected to play a crucial role in the energy platform. “It’s the gas companies that have to make the platform work,” Deputy Director General Matthew Baldwin said this week. The Commission plans to present a first concrete proposal as early as Tuesday. Manuel Berkel investigated which models for EU gas purchasing are under discussion.
It has been four years since the socialist party family met, and now the time has come again: This afternoon, the Congress of the Party of European Socialists (PES) begins in Berlin. On the agenda is the election of a new chair: Sweden’s former Prime Minister Stefan Löfven is to succeed the Bulgarian Sergei Stanishev. However, SPD politician Katarina Barley, who is to become Löfven’s deputy, is taking a particularly important step forward. This gives her an excellent position for the 2024 European elections, as Markus Grabitz and Till Hoppe analyze.
The EU could transfer €1.5 billion a month to Kyiv’s treasury in the future as a result of pressure from the United States. The Commission is currently working on a proposal, with a draft expected on Tuesday. The exact sum is still open, but “structured assistance” for Ukraine is being sought, an EU diplomat said. Eric Bonse reports.
The energy platform is like a miniature EU. Cooperation is good for everyone, but behind the scenes, there is fierce bickering – over influence, ground rules, and finances. Just a few weeks after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the Commission first proposed a joint European platform to secure new, favorable contracts with major gas exporters. But it was not until the past few days that the idea really took hold.
In the summer, the energy ministers of Europe’s major economies swarmed out on gas procurement campaigns. Together, they decided to fill their storage facilities for the winter. But the cost was high, and this cutthroat competition should not be repeated next summer. “We must avoid a scenario in which member states outbid each other and drive up prices,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the Parliament in Strasbourg last week. The issue has seen some movement since then.
Germany allegedly opposed joint gas purchasing for a long time because it wanted to leverage its market power to secure enough energy for its own industry. The concerns were not unfounded. The critical situation should not be further exacerbated by rich Western European countries grabbing all the gas and leaving the most dependent states even more vulnerable, the think tank Bruegel warned in June. Experts see the energy platform not only as a means of price dumping, but also of distributing the purchased gas more evenly between financially stronger and weaker member states.
Then, at the beginning of this week, a non-paper from Germany and the Netherlands began to circulate, in which they gave the go-ahead for joint procurement. But pressure also grew in the meantime, with 17 states supporting a general price cap as the most radical measure, which could threaten all gas trading within the EU. At their informal meeting in Prague on Wednesday, the energy ministers backed the Commission’s call to launch the energy platform by next spring.
The Commission plans to present a first concrete proposal as early as next Tuesday. On this day, the industrial advisory board of the energy platform is also to meet for the first time. The platform is being developed, although it has received little attention so far. At the end of May, the Directorate-General for Energy set up a task force with more than 40 staff by now.
More staff will follow, Deputy Director General Matthew Baldwin said at an event this week. The team will be led by the Acting Director for Energy Policy, Spanish lawyer Cristina Lobillo Borrero. She is assisted by three directors for negotiations and relations with the EU and international countries.
However, gas companies are expected to play a key role. The Commission reportedly considered allowing member states to choose one supplier each to be part of the energy platform via Emergency Article 122, according to a Financial Times report earlier this week. These could then be instructed to procure part of their gas via the joint platform.
“It’s the gas companies that have to make the platform work,” Baldwin says. “The member states aren’t buying gas, and I can definitely say that the Commission won’t be buying gas either.”
On the global LNG market, European suppliers may not be considered to be among the most experienced players, but still, only they have the necessary knowledge: Booking and insuring liquefied natural gas ships or managing regasification terminals, pipelines and storage facilities.
Procurement through the platform could be organized either by an individual buyer on behalf of European utilities or by joint ventures between the companies, said Monika Zsigri, Director of Negotiations, a few weeks ago. The Commission will propose pilot projects to test the financial benefits, she announced at Eurogas.
Bruegel has examined LNG import auctions. One challenge, however, will be to actually secure additional volumes and not simply squeeze out existing European buyers. Deals with the UK, which operates both LNG import terminals and gas pipelines to the EU, may also be necessary.
But joint procurement was intended only as a second step for the energy platform, according to the Commission’s REPowerEU plan in May. One advantage would be bundling demand. To this end, the platform should first collect data on which long-term contracts expire when and which still contain unused options for additional supplies.
The coordination is to be supported by five regional task forces, including two already existing ones. Germany is in a group with eight other countries, including Poland, Croatia and Italy.
However, as Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said in Prague, the platform’s new focus will be on coordinated storage filling next spring and summer, as announced by Ursula von der Leyen. To this end, Bruegel has studied how the German Strategic Storage Based Options (SSBO) model could be replicated across the EU. This would involve a market area manager, such as the German network operators’ Trading Hub Europe (THE), which could auction off storage options and sell the stored gas itself in the event of a crisis.
However, this system would still require different gas prices within Europe and subsequent aid for financially weaker states. In contrast, the Group of 17 around France, Spain, Italy and Poland favors a narrow price corridor for all member states. So there are still a number of issues to be resolved regarding the energy platform at the next European summits.
MEP Katarina Barley (SPD) is moving up in the European Socialist (PES) party family. When the PES elects their new leader this Friday at their congress in Berlin, Barley will become Stefan Löfven’s deputy. The new party leader Löfven is Sweden’s former prime minister.
Barley thus puts herself in an excellent starting position for the 2024 European elections. The women in the PES actually sought a dual leadership in the party, but failed due to resistance from the member parties. The compromise is that the PES board will be doubled from four to eight seats. At the same time, the PES women pushed for the right to appoint a female candidate to the board, regardless of the distribution of posts according to country representation. That candidate is Barley.
Otherwise, Achim Post, a member of the German Bundestag from North Rhine-Westphalia, would probably have had to give up his post as secretary general of the PES. If Barley had not become party deputy thanks to the “women’s ticket,” the accumulation of offices among the German Social Democrats would not have gone through in the party family. In view of the disappointing election results in 2019, an influential German social democrat also urges sharpening the party’s profile: “Just relying on new heads is not enough. The party family must also work on its positions and join forces.”
Leading social democrats criticize the structures at the PES congress, as the party congress is called in the socialist party family. The delegates were not chosen according to the usual rules of inner-party democracy. Rather, the eligible voters at the meeting had been “wildly assembled.” One participant speaks of an “interestingly selected body of delegates.”
Only the chair will be elected at the meeting. The eight deputy positions were previously negotiated between the major European parties and, in case of Barley, were also pushed through by the women of the PES. One attendee described the new leadership not as a party executive committee, but mockingly as a “social democratic supervisory board.”
In the German SPD, Barley is already the number one for Europe. She is the SPD party executive’s representative for Europe. A post that was created for Martin Schulz at the time and is at the same hierarchical level as the vice party leaders. She directs the SPD’s European policy orientation. She heads an informal strategy circle in which six influential social democrats regularly coordinate. Among the members are Ralf Mützenich, Chairman of the parliamentary group, and Jörg Kukies, State Secretary in the chancellor’s office.
Barley, once minister of justice in the socialist-conservative coalition, moved into the Strasbourg Parliament at the top of the list in the 2019 European elections. She is one of 14 vice presidents in the EU Parliament. And she has already been named by party leader Saskia Esken as the top candidate of the German Social Democrats in the next European election in 2024. The announcement caught Jens Geier, who leads the group of 16 German MEPs, and Udo Bullmann, the former group leader in the EU Parliament, completely by surprise.
With the resolution adopted by the PES Congress in Berlin, the PES commits itself to the top candidate rule. This means that, like in 2014 and 2019, it will nominate a European top candidate. The party families intend to impose the top candidate who wins the most votes in the election as the next Commission President.
For four years, the socialist party family had not met because of the pandemic. At the congress in Berlin, soundings have now started to find the next top candidate and thus the face of the PES in the next European elections. The new party leader Löfven and Portugal’s Prime Minister António Costa are currently under consideration. Perhaps Frans Timmermans, who was just stopped before making it to the top floor in the Berlaymont last time, will also give it another try.
The women in the group already have Katarina Barley and Iratxe García Pérez in mind. García Pérez, the leader of the women’s group, is not in good standing with many MEPs. They accuse her of being too much at the mercy of Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s socialist Prime Minister. with Till Hoppe
The EU is preparing to pay direct and permanent budget support to Ukraine. They are to follow the announced US payments of $1.5 billion per month, according to EU circles in Brussels. However, a decision has not yet been made, stresses the EU Commission, which is working hard on a proposal. The Brussels authority’s draft is expected next Tuesday.
The background is the persistent and severe financial gap in the Ukrainian state budget. His country needs $55 billion next year to cover the budget gap and for reconstruction, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said via video link at the IMF meeting of finance ministers in New York on Wednesday. He put the country’s monthly financing needs at between $2 billion and $4 billion.
The more aid Ukraine receives, the faster it can end the war with Russia and begin reconstruction, Zelenskiy said. What is also needed, he said, is a new, permanent format with donor countries modeled on international military aid. It is organized by the US in the so-called Ramstein format and involves 50 countries and organizations.
The US supported Zelenskiy’s demands – and is now putting pressure on the EU. In the future, Brussels could transfer €1.5 billion per month to the treasury in Kyiv, similar to Washington. The exact sum is still open, but “structured aid” for Ukraine is being worked on, said an EU diplomat. Similar comments have been made by the EU Commission, which also does not yet want to specify a definite sum.
It was important to find a way with international partners to support Ukraine beyond 2022 “in a way that ensures predictable and stable financial flows to Ukraine and provides for international burden sharing,” a Commission spokesperson told Europe.Table.
In addition to the amount of the financial aid, there is also a debate about whether it should be granted as loans or as non-repayable grants. In the summer, Germany granted €1 billion as a grant and called on its EU partners to do the same. However, the call went unheard. At the end of September, the finance ministers approved an additional €5 billion in macro-financial assistance. It is granted in the form of long-term loans at particularly favorable conditions.
According to the EU Commission, “Team Europe” already granted Ukraine a total of €19 billion in financial aid by mid-September. There has never been any direct monthly budget support to an EU candidate country at war; this is another reason why the consultations in Brussels have proved difficult.
However, an agreement has already been reached on the issue of an EU training mission for Ukrainian soldiers. In a first step, the EU wants to train around 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers. Alongside Germany, Poland also wants to set up a headquarters. Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, said he expected a decision at the next meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday.
It is that time again: Next week is the plenary sitting in Strasbourg. Among other things, money and buildings will be debated and voted on. In the corridors of the Brussels EP building, the dark green suitcases are already at the ready.
What is it about? About an amendment tabled by MEP Nils Ušakovs from the S&D group. The motion aims to stop the adoption of a proposal to be voted on next week, namely the purchase of the Osmose building for the European Parliament in Strasbourg. France is offering to buy this property for the Parliament. In exchange, the Parliament could ditch the Madariaga building – a frightening maze with ’80s charm that houses the Parliament. The building could be converted into a hotel for the deputies.
For Ušakovs, such a swap would be an unreasonable expense of taxpayers’ money, “especially at a time when European citizens are struggling with rising energy prices and cost of living.” The situation would be relatively simple if the Parliament had only one seat. However, the building that houses the Parliament in Brussels is also in very poor condition. The amendment tabled by Nils Ušakovs calls for “a complete reconsideration of the plans for the future of the Spaak building in Brussels.” Because here, too, the condition of the building requires a decision, and a quick one.
The building, which was opened in 1993 at a cost of €303 million, is said to have leaks, stability problems, and deficiencies in the air conditioning and insulation. In 2012, the building had to be temporarily closed after cracks were discovered in the beams above the plenary hall. There were fears of a repeat of the incident that had occurred four years earlier in the other parliament building in Strasbourg, the very same Madariaga building.
Demolish and rebuild or completely renovate? This question is still open and is pushing its way into the political life of the city of Brussels. After all, the assumption of demolishing a very controversial building, for which an entire residential neighborhood previously had to make way, would possibly further worsen the bad mood in the surrounding area. Moreover, negotiations would have to be held with the Brussels Region and the two city councils concerned (Brussels City and Ixelles), which are now somewhat keener for a less megalomaniac architectural project that better respects the city and its people.
At least the international architectural competition for the redesign has a winner. In the last week of the July session, the international independent jury of the competition informed the President of the EU Parliament, Roberta Metsola, of which architects’ designs made it to the top five and are thus on the shortlist. However, the jury’s decision is still confidential.
Caught up in the debate over the buildings is the never-fully resolved dispute over the location of the headquarters – Brussels or Strasbourg – and the foul compromise that provides for three weeks in the Belgian capital and one week in the French city. This compromise leads to a month-long relocation, the cost of which is estimated at around €160 million per year, according to Nils Ušakovs. The cautious Latvian MEP calls for suspending the back-and-forth between Brussels and Strasbourg “at least” during the energy crisis, “as we did during the pandemic.”
After all, it is well known that France defends its seat in Strasbourg tooth and nail. In parliament, Paris can count in particular on the influence of the French MEPs in the Renew group. Moreover, the election of MEP Fabienne Keller (Renew), former mayor of Strasbourg and former senator of the Bas-Rhin, as quaestor forms an influential French “pro Strasbourg” tandem with her colleague Anne Sander (EPP), who has been first quaestor since 2019.
