King Albert Offers to Pay Part of Renovation Costs

King Albert II of Belgium has offered the Belgian government to help them to pay for the renovation costs necessary to freshen up the Royal Palace in Brussels. The Palace will be used for the European-Asian Summit (ASEM) during the Belgian presidency of the European Union. The Belgian government will pay for the refurbishment of the Palace. Most of the works will be painting and brushing up other details.

King Albert offered to take responsibility for part of the bill, to an amount of 600,000 EUR maximum. The money will come from the Civil List, the “dotation” of the King. The King wants to help the Belgian government, which is currently heading for an immense deficit in the budget, by taking on about a third of the projected costs. He suggested this during an audience with Prime Minister Van Rompuy.

For an article on the subject, see here.

Filed under Belgium
Tagged Albert II of Belgium, European Union, Finances, Renovations, Royal Palace of Brussels.