A majority of the Parliament's work is now geared to its Brussels site, but it is legally bound to keep Strasbourg as its official home.

In Brussels, an international congress centre (unofficially intended as the Parliament) was built with the backing of the Société Générale de Belgique and BACOB, which joined forces on the project in 1987.

The project was built on the site of an old brewery and marshalling yard, which included covering Brussels-Luxembourg railway station to form a pedestrian area.

[4][5] Following the completion of Antall and Brandt, it is believed the complex now provides enough space for Parliament for the next ten to fifteen years with no major new building projects foreseen.

At the death of Pope John Paul II, Polish MEPs tried to get the new buildings named after him,[8] though this was opposed on grounds of secular government and that he did not contribute to the Parliament.

Václav Havel, Nelson Mandela, Olof Palme, Margaret Thatcher and Jan Palach were all suggested by MEPs, with one satirical suggestion was naming the two buildings the "Kaczyński Towers" after the Polish brothers Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński, the first the late former President and the latter formerly Prime Minister (2006–07), who enjoy a frosty relationship with Brussels.

The new buildings were named after Willy Brandt, the German chancellor from 1969 to 1974, and József Antall, the first elected Hungarian prime minister from 1990 to 1993.

The bridge connecting the new building to the original structure was named the Konrad Adenauer footbridge, after the German chancellor from 1949 to 1963.

[11] In September 2008, the Parliament held its first full plenary session (only part sessions are held in Brussels, see Location of European Union institutions) in Brussels after parts of the ceiling of the Strasbourg chamber collapsed during recess, forcing the temporary move.

This in turn led to a complete closure for "at least six months" (as announced on 9 October 2012) of the A section of the Paul-Henri Spaak Building.

[17][18] In 2019, the European Parliament announced an open international design competition for the renovation and refurbishment of the Paul-Henri Spaak building.

The Paul-Henri Spaak building (PHS), named after former President Paul-Henri Spaak, houses among other things the hemicycle (debating chamber) for plenary sessions in Brussels, as well as a press centre and offices for the Parliament's President and senior Parliamentary staff.

With its striking cylinder-shaped glass dome, redolent of the Crystal Palace, as well as the Northern Bordiau Hall of the nearby Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark, the building known to locals as the Caprice des Dieux ("Whim of the Gods"), which is a well-known brand of cheese with the same shape.

One of the glass façades inside the dome is covered with a 150 m2 (1,600 sq ft) large ceramic mural called Miti del Mediterraneo, portraying the abduction of Europa and other elements of Greek mythology, which was made between 1992 and 1993 by Aligi Sassu.

[11] The Brandt building began to be occupied in July 2007 by the external policies DG and the European Conservatives and Reformists group.

The ground floor (on the Rue de Trêves' side) of the Antall building includes an entrance to Brussels-Luxembourg railway station.

The remaining half of the circular chamber is primarily composed of the raised area where the President and staff sit.

[29] The chamber as a whole is of a wooden design, unlike the hemicycle in Strasbourg, and was extensively renovated in 2003 to create more seats and interpretation booths for the 2004 EU enlargement.

With 6,000 m2 (65,000 sq ft) it will be the second largest Parliamentary visitors centre in the world, modelled on the Swedish and Danish centres, with a state-of-the-art interactive role play allowing visitors to simulate the work of an MEP in a mock hemicycle – debating and passing legislation.

The bronze statue, simply called Europe, was created by May Claerhout and is a representation of Europa, carried by a mass of people while also being a part of it.