Sep 26, 2016
The Altiero Spinelli building of the European Parliament in downtown Brussels exudes modernity. Its steel-and-glass structure houses high-ceilinged hearing rooms with perfect lighting, blonde wood, and state-of-the-art audio and video technology. These spaces seem to embody technocratic competence and calm deliberation, but on a chilly afternoon last December, one of these hearing rooms was the setting for a scathing denunciation of the global system for developing and distributing medicine.