In 1985, in response to an initiative by Belgium, the
Council of the European Union appointed the
Belgian government's
Régie des Bâtiments () as the contracting authority to construct a new building better suited to its needs. The foundation stone of the new building was laid in 1989. It is situated on land previously owned by the Belgian government, a site formerly crossed by the Rue Juste Lipse/Justus Lipsiusstraat, a street named in honour of
Justus Lipsius, a Flemish
philologist and
humanist. The new structure took the name of the demolished street, which had linked the
Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat to the
Rue Belliard/Belliardstraat, to become the Justus Lipsius building. Blocs D and E of the former 1920s
Résidence Palace were razed to make way for the construction. The official inauguration took place on 29 May 1995, under the French
presidency of the Council of the EU. During the construction period, the Council of the EU was housed in the
Charlemagne building located across the street, since renovated and currently in use by the European Commission. From 2002, the European Council also utilised the Justus Lipsius building as its headquarters. This followed an advanced implementation of an agreement by
European Union leaders, during ratification of the
Nice Treaty, to do so at such a time as the total
membership of the EU surpassed 18 member states. Prior to this, summits of the European Council were based in the
EU member state that held the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU. A number of renovations were made to the building to accommodate the increased demands of both institutions and growing EU membership, including the conversion of the building's basement car park into additional meeting rooms. However, at the beginning of 2017 both institutions moved into a new purpose-built seat in the adjacent
Europa building. The Justus Lipsius building is still utilised by both institutions and is linked via two skyways and a service tunnel to the new venue. ==See also==