Brussels’ caretaker government, which has been running the region without a political majority since elections a year ago, has made an unusual plea to the EU — asking for European taxpayer money to cover ballooning costs for the long-delayed renovation of the Schuman roundabout, home of the European Commission.
In a recent letter addressed to EU leaders, including Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Brussels requested financial support for Schuman as a “powerful signal of the European institutions’ commitment to the city that hosts them.”
It’s almost unprecedented for a regional government to bypass national channels and appeal directly to the EU for funding, and the move was swiftly condemned by the Belgian government.
Prime Minister Bart De Wever denounced the letter as “begging” and “a new low,” while calling the situation a "disgrace."
Brussels’ budget woes
Brussels had initially earmarked €30.2 million for the project. But since regional elections last June, the Brussels region has been unable to form a new government, leaving the outgoing coalition to operate under a caretaker mandate with no power to pass a new budget.
Instead, the region is now working under a “provisional twelfths” system, which allows only one-twelfth of the 2024 budget, plus indexation, to be spent each month. This limited spending framework makes it impossible for Brussels to free up the additional €9 million needed to finish the roundabout, or the extra €3.4 million needed to cover a planned canopy.
“The Brussels region’s finances have gotten out of hand in recent years,” Dave Sinardet, a political scientist at the Free University of Brussels, told The Parliament. “The letter confirms the image of Brussels as an entity that doesn’t have its affairs in order,” he added.
The region is now facing persistent budget deficits of around 20%, raising concerns that Brussels may soon be unable to pay civil servants, honour contracts, or service its mounting debt. On Monday, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the credit rating of the Brussels Capital Region, citing its worsening financial outlook and the political stalemate.
Schuman’s rising price tag
The European Commission had already earmarked €17.4 million from the Recovery and Resilience Facility for the renovation of the Schuman roundabout, to be directed via the federal government to the Brussels region. But now Brussels is breaking with protocol by asking for additional funds directly from the Commission.
“It’s not exactly a letter we receive every day,” one EU official told The Parliament, noting that additional financial support from the EU executive typically follows a formal process rather than ad hoc requests.
In the Brussels parliament last week, Ans Persoons, Brussels’ state secretary of European relations, faced questioning over the letter, which she signed. Defending the decision to seek EU help, Persoons said: “Faced with the rising costs, we looked for creative solutions. We did not do this rashly. There was first informal contact with the administration, and we received a positive response.”
The Parliament reached out to the Commission for comment but had not heard back by the time of publishing.
Funding from EU cohesion and structural programmes is allocated through carefully managed national channels, with competitive calls and detailed eligibility requirements.
“There are deadlines, procedures, forms, agreements. A lot of paperwork, but it is the same for everyone,” said Hendrik Vos, a professor of European studies at Ghent University.
He added: “Anyone who wants to beautify a part of the city centre in Strasbourg, Budapest or Vienna and believes they are eligible for subsidies can submit a file. But what is happening here, bypassing all procedures, is highly unusual.”
The renovation of the Schuman roundabout began in autumn 2023 and was originally set to be completed by summer 2026. But plans to add a modern steel canopy with a green roof in the middle of the roundabout have pushed the costs significantly over budget, grinding construction to a halt.
The roundabout has been a political headache for the EU stretching back more than two decades. In the late 1990s, Commission President Romano Prodi raised concerns about the neglected state of the intersection at the heart of the EU quarter, prompting Brussels to take action to prevent the European institutions from relocating fully to Strasbourg.
Despite initial plans for a major redevelopment by 2015, the project was repeatedly delayed due to political wrangling and failed architectural competitions. A new design was finally agreed upon in 2023, promising a modern circular square around which traffic would revolve. For now, however, the fate of the canopy — and perhaps the entire project — hangs in the balance.
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