It pays to be alert when you walk in Brussels. You have to look down to avoid the dog mess on its famously besmirched streets while also dodging the scaffolding and cement mixers that signal a building frenzy in the city.
The drab EU quarter is no stranger to the construction craze. Builders have for months toiled on the pink granite Justus Lipsius centre that represents member states: until last week a large green skip sat unceremoniously by the entrance.
Now, the courtyard has a new roof and 25 spot-lit plots – one for each of the countries’ flags. If nothing else, this should make a striking backdrop for TV reports trying to capture the drama of an upcoming summit of EU leaders.
But this latest overhaul is unlikely to give the EU district a much-needed heart – some symbol through which the Brussels elite might show that they connect with their citizens.
There is not so much as a "welcome to the EU quarter" banner for the thousands of tourists who troop each year to the Union’s institutions clustered around Brussels’ chaotic rue de la Loi.
What’s worse, it’s not always easy for people who are outside of the Brussels loop to find a sign saying which division is based in a particular building, and what it does.
To be fair, the Berlaymont headquarters of the European Commission holds occasional open days, and small panels along one its external walls give a history of the district.
But at heart the Berlaymont mother ship – which was revamped and much smartened-up after a lengthy asbestos-induced closure – is little more than a eurocrats’ office building.
Then there’s the European parliament, which is also in the midst of big construction work. Beyond flags fluttering at the entrances there is little that a camera-wielding tourist would want to snap at this Leviathan.
This could change with the planned opening next year of a museum of the Union. Housed in the European parliament, it should give the assembly’s building some much-need pizazz, as well as offering tourists something to see.
Despite the new construction work the EU district remains rather bewildering – not unlike the Union itself.
Sarah Laitner
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