Brussels scraps Schuman Square canopy after record deadlock
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- Pascal Smet, former Brussels mobility minister, launched the Schuman Square redesign in 2015 promising an "urban agora" with a canopy modelled on the European Parliament's hemicycle, but the steel canopy with a green roof was never built — critics now call the result "Europe's largest frying pan."
- Canopy costs ballooned from €5m to €13m amid Europe-wide inflation stoked by the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine war, against a total project budget of €25m announced in 2023, of which €17.4m came from EU Covid recovery funds.
- A Brussels political deadlock lasting a record 613 days after June 2024 elections froze investments and prevented the caretaker government from authorising new funds, forcing an appeal to the EU that PM Bart De Wever rejected by calling Brussels "a failed state."
- Brussels' new coalition government, which took office in February 2026, formally cancelled the canopy and is in talks with architects on a cheaper, greener alternative possibly featuring water features, with completion hoped for summer 2028.
- More than 2,100 people signed a petition launched by Smet's Flemish socialist party calling for the canopy's construction, though Smet said he would accept a better alternative meeting demonstration, security, greenery and symbolism criteria.
Why it matters: Brussels is left with a bare concrete expanse at the symbolic heart of the EU quarter, with €17.4m of EU Covid recovery funds already committed and 2,100+ petitioners plus original architect Smet publicly pushing back against the cancellation. The city must deliver a cheaper, greener alternative by summer 2028 — or the project meant to symbolise European unity remains an embarrassment.
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