Europatat

The Rue de la Loi (French) or Wetstraat (Dutch), meaning "Law Street", is a major street running through central and eastern Brussels, Belgium, which is famous due to the presence of several notable Belgian and EU governmental buildings. The road runs from the Rue Royale/Koningsstraat, in central Brussels, to the Schuman roundabout in its European Quarter. It forms the first (westerly) part of the N3 road that runs to Aachen, Germany. The terms Rue de la Loi in French or Wetstraat in Dutch are used metonymically for government in Belgian politics and media because the Belgian Federal Parliament building (Palace of the Nation) stands at the beginning of this street and the office of the Prime Minister is located adjacent to this building, at number 16. It is also where the Council of Ministers holds its meetings. At the far end, next to the Schuman roundabout, are the Berlaymont building of the European Commission, the Europa building of the European Council and Council of the European Union, and the Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark beyond that. Shortly before the roundabout is the exit ramp from the tunnel under the roundabout and Cinquantenaire.

Maelbeek (French, ancient Dutch spelling) or Maalbeek (Dutch, pronounced [ˈmaːlbeːk]) is a Brussels metro station in the City of Brussels (Belgium). It opened as a premetro (underground tram) station on 17 December 1969 and became a full metro station on 20 September 1976. Following the reorganisation of the Brussels metro on 4 April 2009, it is served by lines 1 and 5, which cross Brussels from east to west. The name of the station originates from the Maalbeek stream.

The ISPD Protocol & Diplomacy (founded 2008 as The International School of Protocol and Diplomacy) is part of the ISPD Group and an academic institution solely dedicated to research, education, training and consultancy in International Protocol, Soft Diplomacy, Business Protocol, Etiquette, Official Events, Cross-Cultural Intelligence, Strategic Communication and Corporate Diplomacy. As the word “School” is not summarising properly all ISPD related activities the wording was changed and the group does not use the word “School” anymore. The ISPD combines fields like Protocol, Diplomacy, Soft Diplomatic Skills, Security, Corporate Diplomacy, etc. in order to bring clients and course participants a unique range of study programmes designed and developed by academics from multicultural and interdisciplinary backgrounds. Although born in Brussels, Belgium, the ISPD has representative offices worldwide. Since the inception in 2008, the ISPD Protocol & Diplomacy has trained over 1200 professionals, including ambassadors, chiefs of protocol and embassy personnel across 104 countries. In addition, the ISPD Protocol & Diplomacy works with more than 60 internationally known experts like the Former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Austria Dr Karin Kneissl; H.E. Dr Luis Ritto former EU Ambassador to the Holy See, Order of Malta, FAO; Captain José Paulo Lucena, Head of Security, Safety and Environment Department at the Portuguese Navy General Inspection; Thomas Sladko, former Deputy Head of Protocol of the Austrian Federal Chancellery; Vazil Hudák, Vice President of the European Investment Bank; Pierre Jirikoff, Senior Advisor of Protocol at the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium; Baron Jacques de Cattier d'Yves, former Protocol Director of the Ministry of Defense; Phillipa Lawrence, former Chief of Protocol of the UN, among many others. ISPD's primary language of instruction is English, but it also provides lectures on other languages on demand. Its method of teaching is based on both face2face training and online learning platform for students in distant parts of the world.

The Rue Belliard (French) or Belliardstraat (Dutch) is a major street in Brussels, Belgium, running parallel to the Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat. Both are one-way streets; where traffic in the Rue de la Loi runs in the western direction towards Brussels' city centre, the Rue Belliard runs in the eastern direction, away from the city centre. The street runs from the east of the Small Ring to the south-western corner of the Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark. The street has four lanes from the Small Ring to the start of the Belliard tunnel, two lanes along Leopold Park and ends on one lane up to the Cinquantenaire. The section on one lane from one park to the other is partly in the territory of the municipality of Etterbeek. The rest of the street is in the territory of the City of Brussels. The Rue Belliard is named after Augustin Daniel Belliard, a French general who was governor of the department of the Dyle.

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice within the EU's institutional framework. Established in 1994, the CoR was set up to address two main issues. First, about three quarters of EU legislation is implemented at local or regional level, so local and regional representatives needed to have a say in the development of new EU laws. Second, there were concerns about a widening gap between the public and the process of European integration; involving the elected level of government closest to the citizens was one way of closing the gap.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is a consultative body of the European Union (EU) established in 1958. It is an advisory assembly composed of "social partners", namely: employers (employers' organisations), employees (trade unions) and representatives of various other interests. Its seat, which it shares with the Committee of the Regions, is the Jacques Delors building on Belliardstraat / Rue Belliard 99 in Brussels. Once known by the acronym "EcoSoc", the body is now referred to as the "EESC", to avoid confusions with the United Nations ECOSOC.

The Statue of Europe (also referred to as Unity in Peace) is a sculpture symbolising peace through European integration, while at the same time aiming to demonstrate the motto of the European Union (EU), "United in Diversity". It is located in the garden of Convent Van Maerlant (the library of the European Commission) in the crossroads of the street Van Maerlant and "chaussée d'Etterbeek", in the European Quarter of Brussels, Belgium. Made out of resin, the statue measures more than 5 meters and weighs nearly 800 kg. It was inaugurated on 9 December 2003 by Neil Kinnock and Viviane Reding, who respectively were Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Culture at the time. 2003 was the European Year of People with Disabilities, and the Eastern enlargement of the EU was awaited. The statue was manufactured, modelled, polished, and painted by visually impaired children under the supervision of by French artist Bernard Romain, who wanted to demonstrate that disability was not a disqualifying factor. Tightly entwined, the differently coloured arms symbolise the culturally diverse peoples of Europe, collectively lifting a sphere reminiscent of the EU flag, surmounted by the dove of peace.

The Jacques Delors building, at 99-101 rue Belliard in the European Quarter of Brussels, houses the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. It sits between the Rue Belliard (Belliardstraat) and Leopold Park and was formerly called the Belliard building. It housed the Brussels activities of the European Parliament until the 1990s, when these functions were moved to the new Espace Léopold. In the 2000s, the building was renovated for use by the two Committees. In 2006, it was renamed "Jacques Delors" (abbreviated 'JDE'), after Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission, who was the most prominent founder of the Committee of the Regions.

The Convent Van Maerlant is a former convent which consists of a church and the Chapel of the Resurrection on Rue Van Maerlant/Van Maerlantstraat in Brussels, Belgium. Jacob van Maerlant was a famous medieval Flemish poet. The original chapel was built in 1435 in the authority of a Papal Bull, and was renovated in the 1780s. The convent of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration itself was converted from a Ducal town house in the early 1850s. In 1905, a compulsory purchase order for land for Brussels Central Station was made on Rue des Sols/Stuiversstraat, and this included the convent. As a result, a virtually identical chapel was built, which survived for another 45 years, only finally being demolished in 1955. Falling vocations meant the convent was closed in the early 1980s, and after standing derelict for nearly 20 years, it was acquired to become the central library of the European Commission. This is the only pre-WW2 building to be left standing in the area after the entry of European institutions.

Council of State (Dutch: Raad van State , French: Conseil d'État, German: Staatsrat), is the supreme administrative court of Belgium. Its functions include assisting the executive with legal advice and being the supreme court for administrative justice. Its members are (for the most part) high level jurists. The Council is located in the Palace of the Marquess of Assche built by Alphonse Balat.

The Jardin de la vallée du Maelbeek (French) or Maalbeekdaltuin (Dutch) is a small green space on the corner of Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat and Chaussé d'Etterbeek/Etterbeeksesteenweg at the heart of the European Quarter of Brussels (Belgium). It was inaugurated on 13 May 1951.The park is testimony to the local residents' struggle against the rapid urbanisation (or "Brusselization") in the quarter that lacked urban planning and new green spaces. The site was originally destined to be used for a new headquarters for the Council of the European Union (which eventually moved into the Justus Lipsius building across the road) but in the face of unanimous opposition the Belgian government tried to sell, what was then a temporary car park, it to property developers before it was converted into a local park.A miniature river in the park reflects the Maelbeek river which once flowed through the area, but is now channelled through an underground collector.

The Lex building is a high-rise of government offices in the European Quarter of Brussels (Belgium). It is an annex building of the Council of the European Union (its main building is the Europa building) and is located at Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 145.