The European Commission have shut off air conditioning for employees in their Brussels headquarters, while leaving the AC on for themselves
Also open thread.
This toaster-themed building is the Berlaymont, and as the enormous gaudy banner on the front suggests, it is the headquarters of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union. The Berlaymont is in Brussels, and Brussels is in Europe, where the weather has been unseasonably warm, with daytime temperatures rising well above 30C (or 90F).
Happily, the Berlaymont has air conditioning, unlike many hospitals and care homes in Europe. Unhappily, the Berlaymont air conditioning system seems not to work so well in the heat, and so the European Commission felt compelled to turn it off – but only for lowly employees of the Commission. Commissioners, including Ursula van der Leyen, continue to enjoy cool air in their own offices.
The European Commission’s headquarters was forced to shut down its air-conditioning system on Friday due to the heat wave.
Staff working at the Berlaymont building received a text at midday, reading: “BERL — URGENT — Due to extreme weather conditions, forced shut down of air cooling system from floor 1 to 7 for the rest of the day.”
The 13-story building is home to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, her 26 commissioners and about 3,000 staff. Von der Leyen works on the 13th floor, and most of her commissioners’ offices are housed on floors eight or above.
Belgium and much of Europe have been sweltering for the past week, with record-breaking temperatures.
As temperatures climbed earlier in the week, the Commission provided “guidance” from their cool air-conditioned offices to sweltering employees who do not deserve to be as comfortable as them, suggesting that these lesser people should try “avoiding going outside at the hottest times of day, drinking water regularly and starting work earlier.”
[T]he advice angered some Commission staff who work in buildings without air-conditioning …
“It’s like feudalism,” a Commission official working on a lower level of the Berlaymont … told POLITICO on Friday, referring to the fact that upper floors housing commissioners got to keep their AC on. A second official agreed it was a “disgrace.”
A third staffer working on the 8th floor told POLITICO on Friday that even with working AC, the temperature inside was still 25.7 degrees.
This is how you tell the difference between leaders and parasitic autocrats.
Leaders would have shut their own A/C off first.
How Marie Antoinette-like of her.