EU summit moved from €320m 'space egg' HQ over kitchen fumes

This week’s European leaders’ summit has been moved out of the EU’s new “space egg” headquarters at the last minute after toxic fumes in the kitchens caused staff to fall ill.

The €321m (£283m) Europa building in Brussels had been due to host the two-day EU summit, which starts on Thursday, but the event will now take place in the Justus Lipsius building next door, which hosted EU summits before the new building opened in January.

Officials said the decision to switch venue was a precautionary measure after the building was evacuated for the second time in five days.

Last Friday 15 kitchen staff were taken to hospital after noxious fumes in the kitchen ventilation system left them feeling unwell. The building was evacuated again on Wednesday after “a further technical incident” in one of the kitchens. Fire services and medical staff were called in on both days.

The first incident was thought to have been caused by a chemical reaction between two industrial cleaning products. Officials said last week that measures had been taken to prevent a repeat of the problem, but there were more noxious fumes on Wednesday.

“Despite checks and precautions, a further technical incident occurred today in one of the Europa building kitchens,” an official statement said. “The technical issue affecting the ventilation in the kitchens of the Europa building, producing noxious fumes in the kitchens, has led to a number of staff falling ill.”

After the latest outbreak of toxic fumes 24 staff were taken to hospital for assessment and three remained under medical supervision in the early evening. Most of the staff are contract kitchen workers, who experienced symptoms, such as vomiting, sore eyes and respiratory problems. Officials say they are still investigating the latest outbreak, having thought the problem was resolved last week.

Even after this incident, officials initially said the EU summit would go ahead in the Europa building, but they changed their minds hours later, less than 24 hours before the EU’s 28 heads of state and government, including Theresa May, were due to arrive.

Although the venue change will not affect the summit agenda – debates on migration, Iran, Turkey, trade and Brexit - the problems with the venue will be an embarrassment for EU officials.

Before its official opening in January, the building captured headlines for its striking lantern design as well as the colourful walls and carpets of the meeting rooms.

When he was prime minister, David Cameron complained about the cost of the project but failed to stop it going ahead.

As well as EU summits, the building is used for diplomats’ meetings and has hosted world leaders including Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

It also includes the offices of the president of the European council, Donald Tusk. In March, Britain’s EU ambassador, Sir Tim Barrow, hand-delivered the article 50 letter announcing Britain’s withdrawal from the EU to Tusk in this building.