New NATO headquarters had a cost of 1,2 billion Eur

The new NATO headquarters in Brussels had a cost of 1,2 billion euros, said Defense Minister, Didier Reynders, in response to a parliamentary question by Veli Yüksel (CD & V). Belgium’s contribution represents 3.8% of the total, ie 45.6 million.

The new NATO complex was inaugurated in May 2017, in the presence of Donald Trump. Before the tender was awarded, the budget had been set at € 1.2 billion, including € 820 million for construction work. The cost was then revised downwards to 1 billion euros before a return, during the construction phase, to 1.2 billion due to adverse weather conditions and technical changes.

“The contributions of NATO members are determined according to a specific distribution that takes into account their importance. For Belgium, this is 3.8%.” This means that the new headquarters cost the Belgian taxpayer 45.6 million euros, said Veli Yüksel.

But “being the seat of NATO also has many benefits for Belgium” and other countries are interested, he added.