It costs nothing to get into the House of European History, but you can expect airport-standard security controls. You then go up to level I, which is given over to the usual reception area, cash desks, shop and cafe, as well as the temporary exhibitions.
The permanent exhibition takes up floors 2 to 6. The theme of each of these speaks to the method used by the designers of this highly original museum: they have not set out to tell the entire history of Europe for the last 2000 years in all...