REGION B – EUROPE

NEW WORLD ORDER

(European Parliament)

Parliamentary Hemicycle

(Espace Leopold Building, Brussels)

The Official Story

PARLIAMENTARY HEMICYCLE
(Espace Léopold Building)

The Espace Léopold or Leopoldruimte is the complex of parliament buildings in Brussels, Belgium, housing the European Parliament, a legislative chamber of the European Union (EU). It consists of a number of buildings, primarily the oldest, the Paul-Henri Spaak building, which houses the debating chamber and the President’s offices, and the Altiero Spinelli building, which is the largest. The buildings are located in the European Quarter of Brussels, with construction starting in 1989.

The complex is not the official seat of the European Parliament, which is the Louise Weiss building in Strasbourg, France, but as most of the other institutions of the European Union are in Brussels, the Parliament built the Brussels complex to be closer to its activities. A majority of the Parliament’s work is now geared to its Brussels site, but it is legally bound to keep Strasbourg as its official home.

Parliamentary Hemicycle

Members are arranged in a hemicycle according to their political groups who are ordered left to right according to their alignment. However the non-attached members are seated towards on the right towards the outer ring without a front bench seat. All desks are equipped with microphones, headphones for interpretation and electronic voting equipment. The leaders of the groups sit on the front benches at the centre, and in the very centre is a podium for guest speakers. The remaining half of the circular chamber is primarily composed of the raised area where the President and staff sit. Behind them there is an EU flag attached to the wall with national flags above it.

Interpreters’ booths are located behind them and along the sides of the chamber, while public galleries are located at the rear. Further benches are provided between the sides of the raised area and the MEPs, these are taken up by the council on the far left and the commission on the far right. The chamber as a whole is of a wooden design, unlike the hemicycle in Strasbourg, and was extensively renovated in 2003 to create more seats and interpretation booths for the 2004 EU enlargement.

Source: Wikipedia