Page 166 - ELEMENTS EUROPA (EN)

162
WELCOMING HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT
THE RECEPTION AREA
At every European summit, the President of the European
Council individually welcomes each head of state or
government, each of whom is accompanied by a more
or less large retinue.
The handshaking “ceremony” takes place between the
covered outside reception area and the inside lobby, in an
area three storeys high and bathed in sunlight. The only thing
separating the outside reception area from the inside is a wall
of ultra-clear glass, with a large sliding door in its middle.
THE WELCOMING CEREMONY
The arrival of the heads of state and government at the seat of feeling of spaciousness given by the lobby’s height (10.20 m).
the European Council for a summit meeting is a ceremony with
great symbolic importance, potentially watched by the whole
European population. It is also an ideal opportunity for a short
but direct contact between the top echelon of European politics
and the press.
European Council staff are responsible for taking videos
of each summit participant entering the building, as well as
distributing them to the various television channels. This is the whole lobby. They are spaced at a distance of 67.5 cm from
raison d’être of the “broadcast grid”, a suspended structure
extending continuously from outside to inside, equipped with
the cameras and lighting needed to shoot the sequences.
All stages of the reception procedure can thus be easily
videoed while they happen. A statement can, for instance, be
made to the journalists assembled on the podium by a head of
state or government immediately after getting out of his/her
car in the covered outside reception area. Then, after passing
through the main door and proceeding to the podium, the head
of state is welcomed with a handshake by the President of the
Council, against a background of the flags of the 28 Member
States. Five lecterns can also be installed on the podium, should the whole structure is very transparent, allowing a lot of the
any official – possibly multilateral – statements need to be read natural light coming from above to pass through it.
out.
In accordance with set rules, the heads of state and the
journalists come very close together without their paths
actually crossing. Nevertheless, the journalists have plenty of
room to move around with ease on their side of the barrier.
A simple door separates the inside and outside platforms
reserved for them. From the lobby, they can easily reach their
assigned offices in the Europa building, or even, via the glazed
walkway integrated in the canopy covering the reception area,
in the Justus Lipsius building. From the walkway, they gain a
panoramic view of the arrival of the heads of state.
THE “BROADCAST GRID”
The function of the grid is to allow the use of audio-visual
equipment at a low height (3.50 m) without compromising the
In addition, the system must allow flexible use: while its mesh
has to be of small size, the cabling must be accessible without
hindrance.
These requirements have resulted in a structure made of
inverted U-shaped profiles 80 mm wide and 70 mm high, linked
by welded plates to tubes with a diameter of 42.4 mm. 171 mm
in height, the resulting beams are 5.20 m long and cross the
each other, corresponding to half the width of a glazed facade
module. Crossbars – also tubes with a diameter of 42.4 mm –
are used to make the whole structure rigid.
The cameras and lighting are attached to the lower tubes by
means of clamps and the hollows of the U-shaped profiles serve
as cable trays. The equipment can thus be arranged anywhere
without any cable being visible. It can nevertheless be easily
moved, as the U-shaped profiles forming the top half of the
beams are entirely open.
As a result of this airy construction with its narrow profiles,