And the name of the diplomatic service building is...

(BRUSSELS2) More than a year after its installation, the building which serves as the headquarters of the European External Action Service (EEAS) still has no name.

At the hotel bar

With the approach of the review of the EEAS, which was the subject of a discussion between foreign ministers, last Friday and Saturday in Dublin, the question of giving a name to the building was broached. Not during the plenary working session on Friday afternoon. But, it seems, during a rather informal meeting which brought together after the evening dinner, several of the ministers - well those who remained (Laurent Fabius and William Hague had apparently already left) - at the bar of theHotel Westbury Hotel in Dublin where most of the delegations were staying.

The twelve"

The current name of the building, The Capitals, code name given by its owner-builder, the Axa group, is not too telling. And naming it the EEAS building is a bit short. Two names stand out for the building: Schuman Square, which is the place where the main entrance of the Service gives, a little like the headquarters of national diplomacies which often borrow their "little name" from their situation or the "Twelve" from the name of the bus which directly serves the airport and stops just below the Service. The idea of ​​naming it "Ashton's Building", the name of the current High Representative, was for a time mentioned but refuted by the person concerned. He could come back if necessary. For the central atrium of the Service, it would seem that the name of "Mandela" could be retained which was preferred to that of Tony Blair and Carla Bruni.

Cafeteria Hugo Chavez

Each of the Service's wings would be named after an emblematic capital of the Service's action. Sarajevo, Kabul, Tehran, Mogadishu are thus cited. The various meeting rooms would bear the name of a contemporary European writer - Vaclav Havel and Ibrahim Rugova are quoted - or older as "Voltaire" in homage to the French philosopher who traveled through Europe and was a diplomat in his day. . As for the cafeteria, it should bear the name of the deceased Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez! Decision taken unanimously. But maybe it was due to the late hour...