Parliament’s buildings
As decided by EU member state government leaders (European Council) in 1992, the Parliament has three places of work - Strasbourg (its official seat), Brussels and Luxembourg. It has a total of 27 buildings in the three places of work. It also has some buildings in other member states where the European Parliament Liaison Offices are located.
|
TOTAL |
Brussels |
Strasbourg |
Luxembourg |
|
|
Number of buildings |
27 |
17 |
5 |
5 |
|
Surface area, m² |
1 180 131 |
659 565 |
344 283 |
176 283 |
The Parliament has gradually been buying the buildings it uses in its main working places, as in the mid and long-term it is more cost-effective than renting them out. To meet the needs for more office space, for example as a result of the EU enlargement of 2004, buying is preferred rather than renting buildings, where possible. The same is increasingly true of Parliament’s Liaison Offices in the Member States.
Buying saves a lot of money – it is between 40 and 50% cheaper than renting over the long-term, according to the Court of Auditors. Overall, Parliament owns 87.5% of its buildings (151 300 m² rented and 1 052 400 m² owned). Renting them instead would cost around €163 million per year.