The European Parliament Agrees to Rent Empty Building ‘Osmose’ in Strasbourg

The building in question “Osmose” has been empty since its construction. Parliament and the government had agreed that the former would acquire it, but the project did not come to fruition.

The office of the European Parliament has given its agreement to the rental of a building located just next to its headquarters in Strasbourg, which France is offering to rent to it at a price well below the market.

“There was an assessment of the needs in terms of meeting and office space which was carried out in July 2022 and taking into account the advantageous proposal made by the French authorities, the office approved the rental of this building of 15,000 m2”, said a spokeswoman for the European Parliament on Tuesday, confirming information from the regional daily Latest news from Alsace.

This agreement must still be examined by the Committee on Budgetary Affairs “in the coming weeks”.

Empty building since its construction

This building, called “Osmose”, has been empty since its construction was completed in 2021. The European Parliament and the French government had agreed for the European Parliament to acquire it, but the project did not come to fruition.

Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne then proposed that the French authorities buy the building themselves and rent it to the European Parliament at a very attractive price of around 700,000 euros per year, in order to strengthen the anchoring of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Strasbourg is the official seat of the European Parliament but in practice most of the parliamentary work is carried out in Brussels and the Alsatian capital only hosts monthly plenary sessions, ie four days a month.

These round trips have been the subject of debate for decades between supporters of a single seat in Brussels and defenders of Strasbourg’s status as European capital.