Due to the heat, the air conditioners at the European Commission headquarters were turned off — but not at the managementʼs

At the European Commission headquarters, the air conditioning system on floors 1-7 was turned off due to the heat on June 26. However, the management does not work there.

Politico writes about this.

The 13-story Berlaymont building is home to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, 26 commissioners and around 3 000 staff. Von der Leyen works on the 13th floor, while most commissioners are on the eighth and above.

“It’s like feudalism,” a Commission official who works on the building’s lower level told Politico. A second official agreed that it was “a disgrace”. A third employee, who works on the 8th floor, told reporters that even with the air conditioning running, the temperature inside remained at 25.7°C.

• In recent days, a significant part of Europe has been gripped by an abnormal heat wave: in many regions of France, the air temperature rose to +41 °C; in Germany, the temperature approached +38 °C. In Belgium, weather forecasters warned of “the hottest weather in the history of observations”.
• The first deaths due to the heat were recorded in France — a woman and two men died on Sunday in their homes in the suburbs of Bordeaux.
• Politico previously wrote that employees of some EU departments are massively complaining about the lack of air conditioning in their offices during the heat. Officials also complain about the European Commissionʼs recommendations during the heat: not to go outside during the hot hours of the day and to drink water regularly. Some simply lose their temper because of this: while some say how much they like coming to the office because of the air conditioning, others (in old buildings where there are none) angrily respond that they should enjoy it.
• Another recommendation from the European Commission to "turn off the heat sources in the office" prompted one official to reply: "Okay, then Iʼll turn off my laptop." The idea of working remotely also did not appeal to everyone — the temperature in apartments sometimes reaches +30 °C.

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