The Eurostadium is finally dead and buried, but what did it cost the taxpayer?

The Council of State gave the Eurostadium on the Heysel site the final death blow on Thursday. It rejected Ghelamco’s cassation appeal against the judgement of the Council for Permit Disputes. Construction company Ghelamco has thus exhausted its last option to appeal against the refused licence for the Eurostadium. In short: over and out.

Chronicle of a forecasted death

Brussels MP Mathias Vanden Borre calls the definition of KO a chronicle of a forecasted death. “The Eurostadium was the perfect example of a file of old political culture and backroom deals. My predecessor, Johan van den Driessche, fought against this from the beginning and is now finally proven right.”

Taxpayers’ money down the drain

The question is whether there are still any loose ends. “The City of Brussels and the Region have together incurred at least three million euros in costs for studies and lawyer’s fees in this case, plus a lot of other expenses in connection with the operation of Parking C. This project was supposedly not going to cost the citizen a single euro, and what do we see now? A lot of taxpayers’ money down the drain. I wonder if we will get a final bill for this. The taxpayer is certainly entitled to it. In addition, the City of Brussels has leased Parking C to Ghelamco on a long-term lease for 99 years. Has the last word on the matter already been said?”