Exhibition
The Schuman building
Following the inauguration of the Schuman building in Luxembourg in 1973, Parliament finally had its own premises with a hemicycle for its plenary sessions. The hemicycle was used regularly for plenary sessions in the 1970s, but once the number of MEPs had increased following direct elections in 1979, the 208-seat debating chamber was no longer large enough.
Between 1973-1979 the Schuman building’s hemicycle hosts 35 meetings of the European Parliament, chaired by four different presidents.
On 14 January 1975, in the Schuman hemicycle in Luxembourg, Parliament adopts MEP Schelto Patijn’s report on the draft convention on the election of the members of the assembly by direct universal suffrage.
The real political significance of direct European elections lies … in the fact that they are held at all.
Schelto Patijn, 14 January 1975
Klenge Kueb
In 1978, the Luxembourg Government submitted an ambitious project to build Centre 300 in Kirchberg to host the largest plenary chamber in Europe, with seating capacity for 600 Members. Given its scale and cost, the project became a source of fierce controversy; faced by pressure from the public, the government decided to abandon it.
Instead, the government created an administrative building. In 1979, the ‘Klenge Kueb’ was officially opened and served as a venue for Parliament’s plenary sessions until 1981.