The extreme heat wave has caused controversy in the heart of the European Union. At the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, air conditioning has been turned off on the lower floors of the building, while on the floors where President Ursula von der Leyen and the commissioners' offices are located, the cooling system has continued to function normally.
According to the Italian magazine "L'Espresso", on Friday, June 26, European Commission employees received an urgent notification informing them that, due to extreme temperatures, the air conditioning on the first to seventh floors of the Berlaymont building would be cut off for the rest of the day.
However, the floors from the eighth and above, where the offices of the European commissioners are located, remained air-conditioned. President Ursula von der Leyen's office, located on the 13th floor, also continued to have air conditioning.
The situation has sparked strong reactions among employees. One of them, speaking on condition of anonymity to Politico, called the decision "feudalism," while another described it as "shameful." Moreover, the temperature recorded on the eighth floor, where the air conditioners continued to operate, was 25.7 degrees Celsius.
The dissatisfaction is not limited to the Berlaymont building. In recent days, the European Commission has also issued guidelines for staff, advising them to avoid going out during the hottest hours, to drink water and to start work earlier. These recommendations have angered workers in buildings without air conditioning, who consider the advice useless without the necessary tools to implement it.
Belgium has been on red alert for days due to heat, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius in some areas of the country. The European Parliament has also faced power outages this week due to an overload of cooling systems.
