Norway House Opened in Brussels

For 18 months, Schuman 6 has been the temporary address of the Norwegian EU Delegation as well as the Norwegian Embassy in Belgium. Now both are back in Rue Archimède 17, across from the Berlaymont building of the European Commission.

Many guests from EU institutions attended the opening. In addition to the Crown Prince, the President of the European Parliament, Mr Hans-Gert Pöttering and State Secretary Ms Elisabeth Walaas, both gave speeches in honour of the occasion.

While in Brussels, the Crown Prince also met with President Hans-Gert Pöttering, Deputy Secretary General of the EU Council, Mr Pierre de Boissieu, President of the European Commission, Mr José Manuel Barroso and Sweden’s ambassador to the EU, Mr Christian Danielsson. Sweden will assume the EU Presidency from the Czech Republic 1 July 2009.

In addition to the Delegation and the Embassy, several other Norwegian institutions have their offices in Norway House. Among them are Norsk Hydro, West Norway Office in Brussels, South Norway Office in Brussels, Norwegian Customs, Statkraft, the Norwegian Electricity Industry Association and Orkla.

Norway House is owned by Statsbygg (the Directorate of Public Construction and Property Management), which has been in charge of the rehabilitation.