Brussels, 05/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - During the press conference held, Friday in Brussels, two Belgian Senators, Alain Destexhe and Vincent Van Quickenborne presented their "Black book of the Berlaymont" in which they denounce the financial chasm represented in the renovation of this building which hosted until 1991 the seat of the European Commission. They note that the bill has not ceased growing, rising from a little more than 4 billion Belgian Francs to five times this amount. Adding to this amount the annexed costs, notably linked to the re-housing of European civil servants, and without taking into account the fact that the Commission should take responsibility of a part of these costs as well as the renovation works as such, the bill would total the figure of 45 billion Belgian Francs, or around EUR 1.125 billion. Just the cost of the removing of asbestos has gone from an initial estimate of BEF 1.4 billion to no less than 5 billion. Furthermore, the work site has been the object of numerous delays that are also very costly. The delivery of the building, which should have occurred in 2000 was first postponed to the second quarter of 2001, and would have thus coincided with the Belgian Presidency of the EU, according to all beliefs, it should however not take place before 2003. The two Senators question the responsibility of the mix company SA Berlaymont 2000 (70% held by the Belgian State and 30% by private banks) which manages the constructions site, and have raised the possibility of establishing a parliamentary investigation committee to shed light on this dossier.
The European Commission spokesperson confirmed that the institution shares the same concern with regards the duration of the project and the slide of the costs. He recalls that the Commission had decided at the start of the last December to launch an in-depth audit of the operation, over which it has no direct control (see EUROPE of 7 December, page 14). The offices of cabinets Ernst & Young and Coalpa have been entrusted with carrying out a technical ad financial analysis: the results are expected for the end of January