The current heat wave has also reached the headquarters of the European Commission: on Friday, the air conditioning in the Berlaymont building in Brussels had to be turned off. At noon, employees received a text message: “Due to extreme weather conditions, we are forced to shut down the cooling system on floors 1 through 7 for the remainder of the day.” This was first reported by VELT’s partner publication Politico.
The 13-story building houses commission president Ursula von der Leyen, her 26 commissioners and about 3,000 employees. Von der Leyen’s office is on the 13th floor, most of the commission members are on the 8th floor and above, that is, on floors where air conditioning still worked.
Employee talks about ‘shame’
This is what causes dissatisfaction among employees. “It’s like feudalism,” a commission official told Politico from downstairs. Another employee spoke of the “shame.” Another from the eighth floor reported that even with the air conditioning running, it was still 25.7 degrees in the offices.
In recent days, Belgium, like much of Europe, has been hit by a heat wave with temperatures reaching around 40 degrees. At the beginning of the week, the commission gave its employees recommendations: do not go outside during the hottest hours of the day, drink water regularly and start work earlier. According to Politico’s Brussels Playbook newsletter, criticism came from employees in non-air-conditioned buildings, including the Directorate General of Agriculture (DG AGRI).