Brussels, 29/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission Vice President Neil Kinnock and the Minister President of the Brussels-Capital region Francois-Xavier de Donnéa have presented, on Wednesday, the interim report by the Brussels-Europe Task Force, which draws up an inventory of the infrastructure needs of the European institutions following the EU enlargement and discusses, on request from Mr de Donnéa, the organisation of all the European Councils in Brussels as of 2002.
Mr de Donnéa, who considers this decision to be a "present for the Brussels-Capital region" proposes that the meetings take place in the Brussels "Tour et taxis" site that offers, according to him, "numerous advantages in terms of accessibility and security". This site, in the process of being renovated, belongs to two private developers, the Canadian Robelco and the Swedish AVH. According to the Minister-President, the projects benefits from a "favourable a priori from Mr Kinnock. Mr de Donnéa thinks that, while awaiting the preparation of the site, the European Council meetings could take place in the Juste Lipse building. Furthermore, the report concludes the enlargement does not justify the construction of a third Europe centre before the EU has 28 Member States. Eric Memer, spokesperson for Mr Kinnock, specified: the Commissioner took note of the proposal by Mr de Donnéa, this decision is not ours to make. An extension of the existing quarters would suffice to host the present demand - 100,000m2 for the Council and 50,000m2 for the European Parliament. The document underlines the need to begin the qualitative phase and to "heal the borders of the European quarter".
The Brussels-Europe task force is a joint working group between the European Commission and the Brussels-Capital region created in December 2000 on the suggestion of Mr de Donnéa. The political decision to hold the European Councils in Brussels as of 2002 was taken at the Nice European Council, on the initiative of the French President, Jacques Chirac.