Since the pandemic, a significant proportion of European Commission staff have preferred to work remotely, a decision was made to drastically reduce the number of offices used by the institution.
The European Commission will sell 23 buildings with a total office space of 200,000 square meters. This means a 50 percent reduction in the institution’s real estate holdings and a 25 percent reduction in the space used.
The EC intends to earn around 900 million euros from the sale of the Brussels-based properties. The money will go to the Belgian sovereign wealth fund, which intends to modernise the properties by adding more plants and improving energy efficiency, and then use them for housing, offices and recreational facilities. These activities are part of the modernisation of the European district in Brussels, where the most important EU institutions are located. The aim of the revitalisation of the area is to change the current image of austere steel and glass office buildings to more people-friendly ones.
After the changes, the European Commission offices will have an area of 580 thousand square meters. A total of 32 thousand people work in this institution.
The mass transition to remote work took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the rules that are still in force today were introduced, according to which every official can perform their duties from home for 20% of their working time, and after individual arrangements with the direct superior, it can be up to 60 percent. In special cases, it is possible to further extend this privilege. Using these preferences led to a situation in which a significant part of the offices were empty.